THE LOVES:S LOVE 



OB. 



JOHN THRBE-SIXTEEH 





Class 

Book 

GoipglitN". 



COPnUGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 

LOVER'S LOVE 



OR 



yohn Three-Sixteen 



t4 



By WILLIAM P. PEARCE 

Minister of the Gospel 




"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath 
bestowed upon us." 



REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASS'N 
Washington, D. C. 



:wi. 



Likkakv „f CONGRESS 


Tw# C 


op.efc 


Received 


FES 


25 


1904 


CopyrighT 
CLAS.- A, 
COPY 


Entry 
Xkc. No. 



6r757 



Entered According to the Act of Congress in the year 1904, by 
William P. Pearce 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 



Copyright Legally Transferred to the S. D. A. Publishing Association 



All Rights Reserved 



DEDICATORY 

'To her, who hy example and instruction has 

led me to know and appreciate 

more the love of God — 



BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR 



'If and Why," "The Tabernacle," "The Master's 

Greatest Monosyllables," "Stepping-stones 

to Manhood," etc. 



PREFACE 

Helen Keller, the blind, deaf, and dumb 
girl, of whose intelligence and remarkable 
beauty of character so much is said, not long 
ago entertained a company of eight persons, 
all of whom had taken some part in the prep- 
aration of her autobiography, '' The Story of 
My Life." 

At the plate of each guest was a copy of 
the book, with a few words of dedication in 
Miss Keller's handwriting. To one who had 
read the proofs she wrote, " The proof of the 
book is in the reading." 

May not the same be said of '' The Lover's 
Love"? Some who heard these truths spoken 
from the pulpit were led to a higher concep- 
tion of what life in Christ means: may not 
others gain the same blessing by reading? 

The author is not unconscious of inability 
in pursuing a line of thought in which " an- 
gels might well fear to tread;" yet he is 
conscious that if these pages are read w^ith a 
. 5 



PREFACE 

spirit, good will be derived therefrom. May 
God bless the book, and may it be in His 
hands the means of leading many who now 
spurn His love to accept it. 

" Jesus, may all confess Thy name, 
Thy wondrous love adore ; 
And, seeking Thee, themselves inflame 
To seek Thee more and more." 

William P. Pearce. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 9 

" Love Counteth Not the Cost " 10 

" John Three-Sixteen "... 11 

The Lover: 

''God" 18 

The Lover's Intensity of Love: 

'" So Loved " 41 

The Lover's Object: 

"The World" 58 

The Lover's Proof: 

'' That He Gave " 77 

The Lover's Gift: 

" His Only Begotten Son " 93 

The Lover's Proviso: 

" Whosoever Believeth " 113 

The Lover's Purpose: 

" Should Not Perish " 132 

The Lover's Pledge: 

" Have Everlasting Life " 152 

7 



INTRODUCTION 

" The Lover's Love " will prove a bless- 
ing to many readers. If there was nothing 
more than the text from which it grew, it 
would be worth while to read that, but it is 
the exposition and experience of one whom 
God has greatly used and blest. 

Luther said John three-sixteen was the gos- 
pel in a nutshell. 

Some one else has said that if all the rest of 
the Bible should be lost, this one text would 
preserve our knowledge of God's love in the 
gift of His Son. 

This is the second introduction I have writ- 
ten for this same subject; the manuscript of 
the first was destroyed by fire. 

May this second writing kindle many fires 
of devotion and service in the hearts of God's 
children. I count it a pleasure to have any 
part in the sending out of '' The Lover's 
Love." J. Wilbur Chapman. 

New York City. 

9 



LOVE COUNTETH NOT THE COST 

There is an ancient story, simply told, 

As ever were the holy things of old. 

Of one who served through many a toiling year 

To earn at last the joy he held most dear, — 

A weary term, to others, strangely lost. 

What mattered it? Love counteth not the cost! 

Yet not alone beneath far Eastern skies 
The faithful life hath, patient, won its prize; 
Whenever hearts beat high, and brave hopes swell 
The soul, some Rachel waits beside the well: 
For her the load is borne, the desert crossed. 
What matters it? Love counteth not the cost! 

This, then, of man : and what, dear Lord, of Thee, 
Bowed in the midnight of Gethsemane — 
Come from those regions infinite with peace, 
To buy with such a price the world's release ! 
Thy voice descends, through ages tempest-tossed, 
"What matters it? Love counteth not the cost!'' 

O Christ, Redeemer, Master! I, who stand 
Beneath the pressure of Thy gracious hand — 
What is the service Thou wouldst have from me ? 
What is the burden to be borne for Thee ? 
I, too, would say, though care and fear exhaust, 
"What matters it? Love counteth not the cost!'' 

lO 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

It is a pathetic story culled from a book 
given to the writer for his mother, when that 
mother lay on her death-bed. Doubtless it 
will aid in impressing the title of this small 
volume on the mind of the reader. In a large 
city there lived a poor homeless and friend- 
less boy, who had become the associate of 
thieves. One night a burglary had been 
planned, and this boy was to watch, and give 
the warning should the robbers be detected. 
It happened that the night was bright with 
the light of the moon, which cast a shadow 
on his path as he hid behind the portico 
of the house. Before he hardly realized it, 
he was accosted by a man, who said, " Boy! 
what are you doing here so late? Go home, 
and go to bed ; lads like you have no business 
in the street at such an hour. Go home! " he 
repeated, as the boy did not move. 

" I have no home to go to, and no bed," 

replied the young street Arab, and his voice 

trembled. 

II 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

" Poor fellow," said the stranger, compas- 
sionately; "would you go to a home and a 
bed if I gave them to you? " 

"That I would, gladly," replied the boy, 
as the cold wind struck his shivering body. 

The full light fell on the face of a gentle- 
man, revealing a kindly smile, which shone 
brighter than the moonlight on the heart of 
the wanderer. He gave the name of a street 
and number, and the lad was hurrying oft, 
when the gentleman recalled him. 

" But how are you going to get in, my boy? 
You must have a pass-ticket, as well as an 
invitation, before you are admitted. Take 
this; this is for you. Can you read? " 

"No," replied the lad, sadly; "I never 
learned." 

" Well, remember on this ticket is ^ John 
Three-Sixteen.' Repeat it after me: ^ John 
Three-Sixteen.' " The boy eagerly repeated 
the words. 

" Now do not forget," said the stranger, 
" this is to give you a home and a bed, and to 
do you good." 

12 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Off ran the lad with his ticket, repeating 
the words until he arrived at the street door 
of the house indicated to him. He rang the 
bell fearlessly, — for had not that kind friend 
told him that John Three-Sixteen would 
secure him a home and a bed? The night- 
porter opened the door, and in a gruff voice 
inquired: '' Who's there? " 

" It's me, please," gasped the boy; '' please, 
sir, I'm John Three-Sixteen/' 

"All right! " responded the porter; '^ that's 
the pass for to-night. Come in." 

The poor lad soon found himself in a com- 
fortable bed, his heart running over with grat- 
itude for the shelter not only from the cold 
wind, but from his evil companions; and 
again and again he repeated: '' I'll always be 
John Three-Sixteen — it's so lucky." 

He slept soundly till morning, when he re- 
luctantly left the place which had afforded 
him rest, food, and shelter solely on the 
strength of his new name. As he was crossing 
the street, he was knocked down by a passing 
cab, and being hurt, was carried to the nearest 

13 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

hospital. Before he was taken into the ward, 
he was asked, "Are you a Protestant or a 
Romanist? " He did not understand what the 
question meant, so he replied, " I'm John 
Three-Sixteen." 

" Well," said the warden to the attendant, 
'' he's badly hurt; carry him in — John Three- 
Sixteen, or whatever his name is. Poor lad! 
poor lad! " 

In the accident ward he was laid tenderly 
down, and soon the surgeon came, and bound 
up his wounds. Fever set in, and delirium 
followed; but at intervals, all that night, he 
repeated: ''John Three-Sixteen, John Three- 
Sixteen. It was to do me good, and so it has." 

Many a one in the ward, wakened by that 
ceaseless cry, stretched forth a feeble hand to 
turn the leaves of the Testament by his side, 
to learn, if possible, what the continued repe- 
tition of the text meant. The Holy Spirit 
blessed it that night to several souls; for it 
was God's own word, and He has promised 
that His word shall not return unto Him 
void. 

14 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

One day the lad awoke to new life. As 
he gazed about him, half dazed, a patient 
from one of the beds near him said, '' John 
Three-Sixteen, how are you? " 

'' How do you know my name? '' inquired 
the lad. 

" Know it! Why, you have never ceased 
telling us of it; and I, for one, say, 'Blessed 
John Three-Sixteen.' " The boy marveled to 
hear himself called blessed, and then for the 
first time in his life he heard those life-giving 
words that have brought salvation to thou- 
sands : '^ For God so loved the world, that He 
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." 

Some time after this an elderly man was 
brought into the same ward in a dying condi- 
tion. Many came and went, ministering to 
him, but from his bed only groans were heard. 
^^ I'll just try my password," said the lad. '' I 
found it lucky for a bed, and now I have 
found it good for a home for everlasting. 
Poor fellow, perhaps he'll find it lucky, too." 

15 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Then, in a solemn tone, with emphasis on 
every word, the boy repeated : '' God so loved 
the world, that He gave His only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." 

There was deep silence in the ward while 
this young missionary gave forth the message 
of salvation. Hope daw^ned on the face of 
the death-stricken man, who implored that 
the words be repeated. The Holy Spirit 
aided the reading, and gave peace to the de- 
spairing soul, so that he accepted Christ, the 
" Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
the world." ^ 

The boy did not die, but lived to declare 
the love of God to others. He made John 
three-sixteen the comfort of his life, the key- 
note of his talks, and the assurance of that 
" inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, 
and that fadeth not away.'" May the thoughts 
set forth in this book do the same for every 
one who reads them. As the sun is the center 
of the universe, so the love of God, as ex- 

^ John I : 29. 2 1 Peter i : 4. 

16 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

pressed in John three-sixteen, is the center 
of every chapter in the book. If love is " the 
greatest thing in the world," then is it also 
the most enduring. 

*' They sin who tell us love can die ; 
With life all other passions fly, 
All others are but vanity. 
Earthly these passions of the earth, 
They perish where they had their birth ; 
But love is indestructible. 
Its holy flame forever burneth, 
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth. 
Too oft on earth a troubled guest, 
At times deceived, at times opprest, 
It here is tried and purified, 
Then hath in heaven its perfect rest. 
It soweth here with toil and care. 
But the harvest time of love is there." 



17 



THE LOVER— "GOD" 

No other verse of such beauty and signifi- 
cance can be found in the Bible as John three- 
sixteen. It is the fadeless, priceless gem of 
the Scriptures ; the key-stone in the variegated 
rainbow-arch of God's loving providences; 
the east star in the constellation*, of divine 
virtues; the flower from whose chalice have 
come all the sweets of Christianity. In one 
sentence of Luther's, it is " the gospel in min- 
iature," from which all the attributes of God 
diverge, and in which all our happiness and 
hope converge. 

" The balm of life, the cure of woe, 
The measure and the pledge of love, 
The sinners' refuge here below, 
The angels' theme in heaven above." 

Strange that Andrew Fuller, the most ver- 
satile writer and preacher of his day, was 
twenty years in making up his mind to preach 

i8 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

from this verse! What was the reason? Too 
old a subject? — None older. Too full of 
pathos? — None fuller. Too deep a mystery? 
None deeper. Too great a theme? — None 
greater. It incorporates the divine plan of 
redemption from the beginning; around it 
revolves the whole system of Biblical doc- 
trines ; and according to one's attitude toward 
it depend the salvation and destiny of the 
soul. 

'^ Eloquent orators," says Dr. Hillis, " do 
not discuss petty themes. The woes of India 
lent eloquence to Burke. Paradise lent beauty 
and strength to Milton. The Madonna lent 
loveliness to the brush of Raphael." So has 
John three-sixteen given relief to sin-bur- 
dened hearts; furnished a theme inexhaust- 
ible to the pen ; imparted sweetness and power 
to the tongue ; filled men with holy zeal to 
consecrate themselves for service or sacrifice; 
quieted the fears of the dying; and, separat- 
ing the veil between time and eternity, given 
a glimpse of immortal blessedness. 

When asked to give a lecture on fishes, the 

19 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

renowned scientist, Professor Agassiz, de- 
clined to undertake so great a task. He pro- 
posed, however, to give a course of lectures 
on a fish scale. There being so much con- 
nected with it, he deemed it advisable to make 
it the theme of his discourses. 

The Bible is a wide field for investigation 
along all lines, — historical, geographical, 
poetical, prophetical, and doctrinal. But in 
John three-sixteen is centralized the greatest 
attribute of divinity, and around it all others 
revolve, — an attribute which angels have 
studied for ages, on which preachers have 
built their sermons, poets their poems, and 
authors their books, — an attribute which is, 
in reality, " a self-existing, self-outpouring 
love." 

It is said that a Bostonian once put a 
weather-vane upon his house, and painted on 
it, in large letters, '' GOD IS LOVE." One 
of the man's neighbors saw it, and said to 
him : " Friend, you have put an eternal truth 
on a very changeable thing." 

" That may be," replied the man ; " but God 
20 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

is Love, no matter which way the wind 
blows." 

" God is Love ; His mercy brightens 
All the path in which we rove ; 
Bliss He wakes, and woe He lightens : 
God is wisdom, God is Love." 

GOD 

The first word of John three-sixteen speaks 
of God, our Father, to whom — 

... "we tend, 
Path, motive, guide, original, and end." 

A great name is this ! None other so great 
or so ancient. ^' In the beginning GOD." ^ 
When Moses inquired what he should say to 
Israel, if asked who sent him, God answered: 
" Thus shalt thou say unto the children of 
Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the 
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you." ^ And 
in another place he declared, " But by my 
name JEHOVAH was I not known to 
them." ' 

^ Gen. I : I. ^ Ex. 3:15. ^ Ex. 6 : 3. 

21 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

This latter title, as preserved to us in the 
Hebrew text, is spelled ''Yhvh/' What it 
was, no man knows. No such word is spelled 
in modern Hebrew, though it is evidently de- 
rived from, if not a part of, the verb '' hyh/' 
— ^^ to be. " In the formula which our trans- 
lators render ^I AM THAT I AM,' the 
name is evidently a part of that verb ; but its 
form belongs to an older Hebrew, which was 
as lost to the Jews of later days as the Anglo- 
Saxon of Cynewulf is to the average English 
reader." Until the sixth century, Hebrew 
was a language without vowels. Since that 
time they have been added to prevent the 
total loss of correct pronunciation, though 
they are seldom written by the learned Jew. 
If we were familiar with the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, we could read our English New Testa- 
ments as freely without printed vowels as with 
them. 

" But the Hebrew soon came to cherish 
toward the name of God that superstitious 
fear which is common to the whole East. He 
would not venture to address his king by 

22 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

name: why should he so address his God? 
The result was that when he came to the let- 
ters ^ Yhvh ' in the Sacred Text, he said * the 
Lord,' just as did our first translators, follow- 
ing the practice of all versions up to their 
time. When the Hebrew scribe did write in 
any vowels with this sacred name, he wrote 
the vowels of the word he would substitute 
for it. He did not pretend that they were part 
of the name itself, as originally given. The 
result was that we have the name ' Jehovah,' 
which is made up of the vowels of one word 
and the consonants of another. For a hundred 
years, at least, the conviction has been grow- 
ing, based upon a study of ancient Greek and 
still more ancient Samaritan authors, that the 
name given through Moses was not only writ- 
ten ' Yhvh,' but should be pronounced ' Yah- 
veh;' and that it probably constituted in 
ancient Hebrew a verbal noun meaning 
^ being.' It thus contained within itself the 
whole doctrine of monotheism, causality, and 
sovereignty." 

When God revealed His omnipotence to 

23 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Abram, He said : " I am the Almighty God." * 
To Jeremiah He declared His omnipres- 
ence: ''Am I a God at hand, . . . and not a 
God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret 
places that I shall not see him? ... Do not 
I fill heaven and earth? " ^ Paul acknowl- 
edges His omniscience thus: "All things are 
naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom 
we have to do." ^ James confesses his immu- 
tability when he calls Him " the Father of 
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning." ' But it is left to Jesus 
and John to give the grandest conception of 
this Hebrew '' Yhvh," and Greek '' Yahveh," 
and English '' Jehovah,"—'' God so loved/'— 
and extending beyond the Hebrew, Greek, or 
English— "GOD IS LOVE." ^ 

The word " love " is purely a New Testa- 
ment term, and was used by its writers about ^ 
one hundred and forty times. In the Author- 
ized Version, the word is used one hundred 
and fourteen times, and charity twenty-six 

* Gen. 17:1. ^Jer. 23:23. ®Heb. 4:13. 

" James 1:17. ^ i John 4 : 8. 

24 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

times; but in the Revised Version it is uni- 
formly translated love. The Greek language 
had four words to signify love, but agapao 
was the exalted term. In it is expressed the 
deepest significance of the truth of God. " It 
denotes," as Cremer says, '' a love practically 
unknown outside of the range of Scripture, — 
a love possessing a character all its own, to 
express which terms in ordinary use must have 
been looked upon as quite inadequate." " Its 
fullest meaning," as E. P. Fuller says, " is 
given in the New Testament, and here espe- 
cially in the terms of divine action — God's 
love. Its distinctive qualities are that it 
chooses its object with decision of will, and 
is benevolent, wishing well to, and regarding 
the welfare of, its object. This is the word 
which is used in the New^ Testament to ex- 
press God's love to men." 

To know God is the highest and noblest as- 
piration of the soul. '' I have always," sang 
Robert Browning, — 

..." had one lode-star ; now 
As I look back, I see that I have halted 

25 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Or hastened as I looked toward that star — 
A need, a trust, a yearning after God." 

It is only through love that we learn to 
know God. Classic Greece and Rome are 
called by those who knew them best " a world 
without love," while the uncivilized Algon- 
kins had no such word till the missionary who 
translated the Bible into their tongue invented 
one. But our language and Bible teach it; 
and we believe, as Lord Tennyson wrote, 
that — 
" Through the will of the One who knows and rules. 

Utter knowledge is but utter love." 

There are those who tell us that we can not 
know God. Blessed be His name, we can. 
When Phillips Brooks told the deaf, blind, 
and dumb Helen Keller, as a child, that God 
was her Heavenly Father, she answered: '^ I 
knew that before. I think I have always 
known it." 

'^ I am looking for Jesus," said an orphan 
boy to a lady who found him by his father's 
grave. " He is not here; He is risen," said 
the woman. 

26 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

" I know it," replied the boy, " but I've 
been waiting here all day for Him to come/ 
aftd raise my papa up." 

" How will you know Him, dear child? " 
she asked. 

"By His smile," replied the child; and, 
placing his hand on his heart, he said: " I'll 
know Him best in here by the love." 

" Love is the synonym of God," and " the 
very being of God is the expression of infinite 
love." John declares, " Every one that loveth 
is born of God, and knoweth God'' and the 
one that " knoweth not God," is '' he that lov- 
eth not; " " for God is Love." ' 

God is creative Love. Lord Kelvin, better 
known as Sir William Thomson, said : " Forty 
years ago, walking somewhere in the coun- 
try, I asked Liebig if he believed that the 
grass and the flowers which he saw around us 
grew by mere chemical forces. He answered : 
" No ! no more than I would believe that a 
book of botany, describing them, could grow 
by mere chemical forces." 

^ I John 4 : 7, 8. 

27 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Henry Ward Beecher had a celestial globe 
in his study. On it was an excellent represen- 
tation of the constellations, and the stars which 
compose them. Robert G. IngersoU, the in- 
fidel lawyer, saw the apparatus, and was de- 
lighted with it. After examining it closely, 
he said: " It's just what I want. Who made 
it?" 

''Who made it?" replied Beecher; '' who 
made this globe? Oh, nobody. Colonel; it 
just happened! " 

'' Show me your God," demanded the Em- 
peror Trajan of Joshua, a Jewish rabbi. 

" Come out of the house, and see one of His 
ambassadors," replied the sage. 

Leading the emperor into an open space, 
the rabbi bade him look upon the sun, then 
shining in his strength. '' What! can you not 
look in the face of the ambassador? " he 
asked. ''Are you blinded by his dazzling 
presence? How, then, can you look upon the 
countenance of the King? " 

God is everywhere, and His name is writ- 
ten upon all His works. His majesty is seen 

28 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

in the towering mountain and the mighty 
ocean; His love shines in every flower and 
dewdrop; His voice is heard in the storm; 
and His glory is depicted on the variegated 
landscape, in the lightning flash, and in the 
magnificent aurora. 

" This world's no blot for us, nor blank ; 
It means intensely, and means good." 

If the Arabian guide crossing the desert of 
Sahara with a French scientist saw in the 
sinking sun the wisdom and glory of the 
Creator; if Galileo saw in the construction 
of a wheat straw that lay on his prison floor 
the work of an intelligent Maker; if Cole- 
ridge, when standing before Mont Blanc, un- 
covered his head in reverence to its Creator; 
if Jenny Lind fell upon her knees and gave 
thanks to God when she first saw Niagara; 
and if — 

" To blind old Milton's rayless orbs, 
A light divine is given ; 
And deaf Beethoven hears the hymns 
And harmonies of heaven," — 

29 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

surely we, who walk through fields of golden 
grain, and sit beneath trees laden with lus- 
cious fruit, and drink from the sweet, gur- 
gling springs, must be blind and deaf if we 
perceive not God's love! 

"All nature speaks the attributes of God, 
Whose vast domain of matter and of mind 
Accords forever with His holy will. 
All life is an expression of His love : . . . 
All discord is the fragment of a scale, 
Which, had man but the power to comprehend, 
Would be replete with harmony divine." 

God is Fatherly love. To create is not to 
be a father in the highest sense of the term. 
The artist is not called the father of the pic- 
ture he paints, neither is the inventor called 
the father of the machine he contrives. To 
be a father is to communicate an existence like 
his own. All who believe in Jesus become, 
through him, '' partakers of the divine na- 
ture," ^^ ^^ born, not of blood, nor of the will 
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God." '' 

" 2 Peter i : 4. "John i : 13. 

30 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Children of God! Think of it! Said John, 
'^ Behold, what manner of love the Father 
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called the sons of God." '" Precious rela- 
tionship, is it not? In relation to humanity, 
He is King; but to those in Christ Jesus, 
Father! In the New Testament Scriptures, 
God is spoken of as King only five times, but 
as Father more than two hundred; while in 
the memorable Sermon on the Mount, this 
term is used sixteen times/^ It is baptism in 
the name of the Father; the lesson about 
prayer and providence begins with the word 
Father; the announcement of Christ's Mes- 
siaship is in the name of the Father; the Ad- 
vocate is with the Father; the Comforter is 
to come from the Father; " our fellowship is 
with the Father, and with His Son Jesus 
Christ;"^* of whom the latter declared: 
" The Father Himself loveth you, because ye 
have loved me." ^^ 

A young clergyman in a London church 

^2 I Johns: I. 

" Matt. 5 : i6, 45, 48; 6 : i, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 18, 26, 32; 7:11, 21. 

" I John I : 3, " John 16 : 27. 

31 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

lost his wife. They had a little child. The 
parishioners hoped that some relative would 
come to take care of it, but none appeared. 
Two or three years passed. One Sunday 
when the pews were crowded, the clergyman 
came up the aisle leading the child, whom he 
seated in the corner of the front pew. The 
service went on until the sermon began. In 
his sermon the minister spoke of the mother 
of Christ, and her agony of heart at the cross. 
Said he: '^ Think what a child's life is with- 
out a mother's love! Who else can wrap a 
babe in swaddling-clothes? Who can tend, 
who can cherish, who can love, but a 
mother? " In the depth of his feeling, the 
rector's strong voice halted, as if for an an- 
swer; and in the hush of the great congrega- 
tion a little, childish voice spoke out, very 
sweetly and clearly, "A faver would do just 
eve'y bit as well, papa dear." 

So our Father, with heart more tender than 
a mother's, with sympathy more pronounced 
than a brother's, and with love exceeding all 
human love com.bined, seeks to do the greatest 

32 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

good and be the greatest good to the greatest 
number of the family of mankind. Can we 
not, then, say, with Jesus, '' Our Father," ^^ 
and declare, with Marianne Farningham, — 

*' Our Father knows, our Father cares ! 

How great Thy gentleness ! 
We dare to Hve, and dare to die, 

We are not fatherless. 
Dear Father, whom we can not see, 

Our life is glad because of Thee." 

WHY SOME DO NOT LOVE GOD 

God being Love, is it not strange that so 
many love Him not? Why is this, when 
He is such a loving and lovable character? 

Some do not love God because they do not 
know Him. He is to them as He was to the 
Athenians, " the unknown God," ^^ and to 
them He will remain unknown as long as they 
continue dead in trespasses and sins. Not to 
love God is a self-evident fact of death. " He 
that loveth not," said John, " abideth in 
death." '' 

^^ Luke 11:2. " Acts 17 : 23. ^^ i John 3 : 14. 

3 33 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

When Hector was going to his last battle, 
his wife accompanied him as far as the gates 
of the city, followed by a nurse carrying their 
infant child. About to depart, Hector held 
out his hands to receive the little one, but, ter- 
rified by the burnished helmet and waving 
plume, the child turned away, and clung to 
the mother's neck. In a moment, divining the 
cause of the babe's alarm, the warrior took 
ofif his helmet, and cast it on the ground ; and 
then, smiling through his tears, the little fel- 
low leaped into his father's arms. 

Not to know God is to judge him incor- 
rectly. Sometimes we consider His provi- 
dences judgments, and mistake His favors for 
frowns. Because of this we talk against Him, 
and insult Him by setting at naught His ordi- 
nances, trampling on His laws, spurning His 
invitations, and refusing to accept His love. 
O what foolishness, yea, what recklessness! 
To know not God is to have Him declare, '' I 
know you not." And if we wilfully persist in 
being ignorant of Him, there will come a 
day — 

34 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

" When the sinner shall hear his doom, 
Depart, I know ye not." 

Some do not love God because they believe 
not in Him. Base perversion of the mind, 
when God is intended to be the everlasting 
field of the human intellect, the everlasting 
object of the human heart! Unbelief in God 
becomes the father to the expression, '' There 
is no God," ^^ as it becomes the promoter of 
evil ; for such disbelief gives the widest scope 
for wrong-doing. Let men persuade them- 
selves that God is a myth, that the future life 
is a dream, that " they shall die," as South 
said, " like beasts; " and " they will soon be 
brought to live like beasts also." 

Plucking the ^^ Texas Star " flower, a skep- 
tic observed that it had five petals, five sta- 
mens, and five base divisions. Was this a 
mere chance, he • asked himself. Multiply- 
ing the three fives together, he said: '^ Here, 
on a scientific ground, are one hundred and 
twenty-five chances to one that this is not mere 
chance." Looking about him, he found many 

^^Ps. 14: I. 

35 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

of the same flowers with exactly the same 
structural plan. Then he said : " Here is 
order; here is plan; here is an infinite num- 
ber of chances against a cipher that these 
plants had a wise Creator, and I have been 
wrong all the time. There is a God, and He 
shall be my God." 

The reason one disbelieves in God is be- 
cause he knows that if there is a just God pre- 
siding over the destinies of men, there will be 
a reckoning day; if there is a reckoning day, 
he will be held accountable for his deeds; if 
accountable, he is responsible; and if respon- 
sible, he will be punished for his sins. The 
greatest sin is unbelief. Paul implies that 
unbelief proceeds from an " evil heart," ^^ and 
that those will " be damned who believed not 
the truth." ^^ To escape the thought of such 
punishment, the unbeliever must get rid of 
responsibility. To rid himself of responsibil- 
ity, he must ignore accountability. To ignore 
accountability, he must destroy the thought of 
a judgment. To destroy the thought of a 

2°Heb. 3:12. 2i2Thess. 2: 12. 

36 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

judgment, he must believe there is no God. 
Alas for such destructive reasoning! 

Some do not love God because they do not 
realize His love to them. If they did, they 
would love self and the world less. John said, 
" If any man love the world, the love of the 
Father is not in him." ^^ But how God loves 
us, when we deserve nothing but His hatred. 
A little enumeration of the blessings He be- 
stows, and who dare fail to appreciate His 
love? Who? — None but the heartless. 

A gentleman of wealth and social position 
was very ill. A Christian man visited him, 
and learned how little love he had for God. 
Desiring that he should know something of 
God's great love, he remarked : " When I 
leave you, I shall go to my residence, and the 
first thing I expect to do is to call my baby. 
I shall place her on my knee, look into her 
sweet eyes, listen to her charming prattle, and, 
tired as I am, her presence will rest me; for 
I love that child with unutterable tenderness. 
Does she love me? you ask. The fact is, she 

^ I John 2: 15. 

37 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

loves me little. If my heart was breaking, 
it would not disturb her sleep. If my 
body was racked with excruciating pain, 
it would not interrupt her play. If I were 
dead, she would be amused in watching my 
pale face and closed eyes. If any friend came 
to remove the remains to the place of burial, 
she would probably clap her hands in glee, 
and in two or three days totally forget her 
papa. Besides this, she has never brought me 
a penny, but has been a constant expense on 
my hands ever since her birth. Yet, though I 
am not rich, there is not money enough in the 
world to buy my baby. How is it? Does she 
love me, or do I love her? Do I withhold my 
love until I know she loves me? Am I wait- 
ing for her to do something worthy of my love 
before I extend it to her? " 

" Oh, I see! I see!" exclaimed the sick man, 
while the tears rolled down his cheeks. " I 
see it clearly. It is not what I think of God, 
but what God thinks of me, — not my love to 
God, but God's love to me, — I ought to be 



38 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

thinking about. I do love Him now as I 
never loved Him before." 

" O the love of God is o'er us, 
Like the broodings of a dove ; 
Let us join the happy chorus, — 

God is Light, and Truth, and Love." 

Will not you, dear reader, love God? It 
is all He asks ; for, having your love. He has 
all. When Pythagoras discovered that the 
square of the hypotenuse of a right angle tri- 
angle is equal to the sum of the squares of the 
opposite sides, he rose from his study, went 
to the altar, and in a devout spirit sacrificed 
an ox. Will not you show your appreciation 
of God's love, this moment, by presenting 
your body '^ a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God"?'' Tenderly, lovingly, for the 
sake of your soul and the souls of others, the 
author asks. Will not you love this divine 
Lover? Look up into His face, by faith put 
your hand in His, and pray, — 

^Rom. 12: I. 



39 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Finish, then, Thy new creation. 

Pure and spotless let me be; 
Let me see Thy great salvation, 

Perfectly restored in Thee: 
Changed from glory unto glory. 

Till in heaven / take my place, 
Till / cast my crown before Thee, 

Lost in wonder, love, and praise. 



40 



II 

THE LOVER'S INTENSITY OF LOVE 
— " SO LOVED " 

The world has not a greater or purer vir- 
tue than love. It is heaven-born, the subject 
of angel's song, the key-note of seraph's harp, 
and the theme of man's meditation, filling his 
soul with unutterable joy. It is ^^ omnipresent 
in nature as motive and reward." It distin- 
guishes every creature, gives beauty to every 
cloud, fills the air with songs, and transforms 
the stars into God's autograph letters. It is 
that which can not be bounded by horizons, 
ever new yet ever old, — 

" Old as eternity, but not outworn ; 
With each new being born, or to be born." 

The very first line of Genesis reads, " In 
the beginning God;" and according to the 
beloved disciple, '^ God is love." ^ Love, 
therefore, must have been the first thing that 

^ I John 4 : 8. 
41 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

inhabited space; it must have existed before 
the '' sons of God shouted for joy,'' " and sent 
forth its benignant rays before God said, '' Let 
there be light." ^ It must have been the 
'' master of all arts '' before the heavens were 
studded with glittering tapers, the waters were 
alive with various species of fish, and the 
prairies ministered to the necessities of the 
bee and the sustenance of the herd. And 
when heaven and earth shall pass away, love 
will still endure; for "love never faileth." * 
It is indestructible. 

*'' Its holy flame forever burneth ; 
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth." 

It is a significant fact that to all creatures 
God has imparted, in greater or lesser de- 
gree, this attribute of love. The lower formes 
of animal life are not devoid of_it; and as the 
scale of being rises, so does the degree of love 
increase. In the mother race of birds, beasts, 
and reptiles this is noticed; while love in the 
hum.an being, and especially in the Christian, 

^ Job 38: 7- " ^ G€n. I : 3- * i Cor. 13 : 8. 

42 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

is not bounded by family ties, but reaches out 
to all classes, and reveals itself in a thousand 
ways. Love — 

. . . " makes excuses where she might condemn ; 
Reviled by those that hate her, prays for them ; 
Suspicion lurks not in her artless breast ; 
The worst suggested, she believes the best. 
Not soon provoked, however stung and teased. 
And, if perhaps made angry, soon appeased ; 
She rather waives than will dispute her right, 
And, injured, m.akes forgiveness her delight." 

But where is there found a declaration of 
love so broad yet so concise as John three- 
sixteen? Captain Speke, when seeking the 
source of the Nile, wrote in his diary as he sat 
on the southern bank of Victoria Nyanza, 
August third, eighteen hundred fifty-eight, 
" I no longer felt any doubt that the lake at 
my feet gave birth to that interesting river, 
the source of which has been the subject of 
so much speculation and the object of so many 
explorers." But where is the fountainhead of 
love? What prophet or priest has traced it, 

43 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

unless it be Christ, who declared that back of 
maternal, paternal, and Christian love is God, 

and '' God is love." 

WHAT GOD DID 

Not only does the sacred writer reveal 
what God is, but what God did — He loved. 
The verb is in the past tense, thus showing 
that before we had being; when we had 
being, but not intelligence; when we had in- 
telligence, but were wayward; when we 
could have loved, but spurned love, God 
loved. Blessed thought, that when we were 
hard-hearted and rebellious, God, the great 
and loving Father, loved us dearly! 

This love was unsolicited. We had noth- 
ing to do with it. It was compassionate, God 
pitying us. It was partial. Though God 
loved a world of sinners lost, each can truly 
say, ^' He loved me." Washington Irving 
once visited a dying boy, and putting his hand 
on the lad's fevered brow, said, in parting, 
" My boy, God loves you." The words trans- 
formed the lad. In joy he called out to the 

44 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

people in the house: "God loves me! God 
loves me! " 

" Wondrous words, how rich in blessing ! 

Deeper than the unfathomed sea, 
Broader than its world of waters, 

Boundless, infinite, and free ! 
Higher than the heavens above 
Is Thine everlasting love." 

THE INTENSITY OF THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Not only is God love, not only did He 
love, but one w^ord tells us of the intensity of 
that love — ^' so '^ loved. It is a degree beyond 
expression and conception. Lexicographers 
define the monosyllable " so " in its rela- 
tions as adverb, conjunction, and interjection; 
but no one dare attempt to explain it in its 
relation to God's love. Scientists claim to 
have weighed our globe, and measured the 
distance between us and Mars; but no man 
dare attempt to weigh or measure this little 
word " so." In this connection it is the Mont 
Blanc of the Biblical monosyllables, the hiero- 
glyphic that human intelligence can not de- 

45 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

cipher, the incomprehensible word whose full 
meaning even the angels have failed to grasp. 
Cicero is said to have seen Homer's Iliad 
written in such small characters that it could 
have been contained in a nutshell. In the 
Elizabethan age, Peter Bales, a celebrated 
calligrapher, is said to have written the whole 
Bible so minutely that the manuscript could 
be shut up in a common walnutshell. Wen- 
dell Phillips relates that he had a friend who 
owned a ring three quarters of an inch in 
diameter, on the seal of which was engraved 
the naked figure of Hercules. By the aid of 
glasses there could be distinguished the inter- 
lacing muscles, and every hair in the**feye- 
brows could be counted. Queen Victoria had 
a needle w^hich was made at Redditch, and 
which represented the column of Trajan in 
miniature. The well-known Roman column 
is adorned with nuknerous scenes in sculpture, 
perpetuating Trajan's heroic actions in w^ar. 
On this diminutive needle, scenes in the life 
of Queen Victoria are represented in relief, 
but so finely cut that they require a magnify- 

46 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

ing-glass to see them. Moreover, it can be 
opened, disclosing a number of needles in 
smaller size, which are likewise adorned with 
scenes in relief. On the occasion of Pope 
Leo's jubilee he was presented by the cele- 
brated Neapolitan artist, Andrea Cartello, 
with a topaz weighing one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-four grains, on which he 
had engraved a picture of " The Last Sup- 
per." This design took the artist twelve years 
to accomplish, and the gem with its decora- 
tion is estimated to be worth eighty thousand 
dollars. But in this little word " so," con- 
nected with the word " loved," there is more 
to see, more to learn, than in a hundred of 
Homer's minute Iliads, or the ring of the 
friend of Wendell Phillips, or Victoria's 
needle, or the engraved topaz of Leo the Thir- 
teenth. In it is expressed a love which baffles 
description in its extent, diversity, and vast- 
ness, — a love illimitable as boundless space, 
and as incomprehensible as eternity, — a love 
that human thought can not fathom, nor hu- 
man language describe. By the receding of 

47 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

the Falls of Niagara, geologists have endeav- 
ored to determine the antiquity of the river; 
but where is the geologist who can unearth 
the footprints of love, or the astronomer who 
can find its starting point? It existed long 
before a Niagara, long before the creation of 
this planet. 

" Could we with ink the ocean fill, 

And were the skies of parchment made ; 
Were every blade of grass a quill, 

And every man a scribe by trade, — 
To write the love of God above 

Would drain the ocean dry ; 
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, 

Though spread from sky to sky." 

God ^^ so loved." Such a statement is not 
without proof. Everything demonstrates it. 
He so loved as to make a beautiful world; 
so loved as to make a pure man to inhabit the 
world ; so loved as to walk and talk with this 
man in the world; so loved as to devise a 
plan to save man when he fell a victim to 
temptation; so loved as to warn transgressors 

48 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

of their ways, and to give promises and hold 
out inducements to live holy lives; so loved 
as to give a Redeemer to restore unto man 
what he had forfeited by sin; so loved as to 
adopt into His family all who would ap- 
proach Him in the name of His Son; so 
loved as to prepare mansions for all in His 
celestial Paradise. 

And still He loves us. Are we weary? He 
desires to give us rest. Are we sad? He de- 
sires to give us joy. Are we weak? He 
desires to give us strength. Are we in dark- 
ness? He desires to give us light. Are we 
living in the shadow? He desires to lead us 
into the sunshine. Are we longing for home? 
He desires us to trust Him; for, said He, " I 
will come again, and receive you unto My- 
self ; that where I am, there ye may be also." ^ 

''So loved!" O that every mind would 
grasp the thought of this phrase! then would 
youth and aged, intelligent and ignorant, rich 
and poor, see in this little word the infinite 
ocean of His affection. " God so loved!" 

^ John 14: 3. 

4 49 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

" His word proclaims it ; 
Day by day the truth we've proved ; 
Heaven and earth with joy are telHng, 
Ever telHng, ' God so loved ! ' " 

RECIPROCATED LOVE 

If God is love, and His love has been and 
is so intensely manifested, should not all His 
intelligent creatures reciprocate it? Such a 
question determines one's respect, for love be- 
gets love; it determines one's character, for 
love alone understands love; it also deter- 
mines one's knowledge, for '^ he that loveth 
not, knoweth not God," ^ and there is no true 
way of knowing Him except by loving Him. 
To love God '' is the highest heritage of our 
manhood, and not to have loved Him is the 
most condemning fact of our lives." David 
exhorts : " O, love the Lord, all ye His 
saints; " ^ and Jesus said to the lawyer, " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind." ' To love 

« I John 4: 8. Ts. 31:23. « Luke 10: 27. 

50 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

God thus '' must insensibly raise the moral 
and spiritual character of every one who is 
controlled by so worthy an endeavor. It in- 
sures the recognition of the soul's subjection 
to the authority of God; it makes the divine 
excellences the objects of ceaseless contempla- 
tion ; it subordinates all the aims and activities 
of life to the holiest purposes." To love God 
properly must be according to these divine 
specifications, each of which has a deep and 
separate significance. 

It should be love of heart, all the powers 
of affection consolidated and centralized in 
God, instead of in self and the world. When 
Frontenac died, he bequeathed his heart in a 
golden casket to his wife. '' I never had it 
living," she said; '' I will not take it dead." 
Too many, while living, armor-plate their 
hearts with the love of the world, thus resist- 
ing the sweetness of divine love; but when 
dying, they wish to bequeath their hearts to 
God. No greater evidence can there be of 
lack of genuine heart-love ; for " if any man 



51 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

love the world, the love of the Father is not 
in him." ^ 

A lady of the East, about to start on a long 
journey, called her three sons, and asked each 
to furnish an expression of his love before she 
left. One of them brought a marble tablet 
with her name inscribed on it; another pre- 
sented her with a rich garland of fragrant 
flowers; but w^hen the third came, he said, 
" Mother, I have no marble tablet, nor fra- 
grant flowers, but I have a heart; on that heart 
your name is engraved, and in it your memory 
is precious; and this heart full of affection 
will follow you wherever you go, and remain 
with you wherever you repose." Such a love 
of heart our Father desires; such a love of 
heart He should have; and such a love of 
heart we should give, acknowledging, — 

" My heart owns none above Thee ; 
For Thy rich grace I thirst; 
This knowing: if I love Thee, 
Thou must have loved me first." 

There should be love of soul. All the liv- 

^ I John 2:15. 
52 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

ing powers, — the whole being, with its emo- 
tions, passions, and volitions, — should aspire 
to make love to God the chief aim. The word 
^^ soul " is variously used, according to its sev- 
eral offices. Flavel says: "As it quickens the 
body, it is called life; as it exerts acts of the 
will, it is called the mind; when it recollects, 
it is called memory; as it produces breathing, 
it is called the spirit/' Wonderful the God- 
given, God-made spirit, " created," as Augus- 
tine said, " by God, for God, and therefore 
never quiet till it rests in God." And this can 
not be unless it seeks God as the dove sought 
the ark; and this seeking must be like Solo- 
mon's when he exclaimed, " I found Him 
whom my soul loveth." " 

When the Hon. William E. Gladstone lay 
on his death-bed at Hawarden, he was visited 
by Lord Rosebery. The time came for bid- 
ding each other farewell, — the final farewell 
it proved, — and Mr. Gladstone, who had 
been in previous years the younger man's po- 
litical chieftain, tenderly and earnestly said 

^° Song of Solomon 3 : 4. 

53 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

to him: " Rosebery, take care of your soul, 
take care of your soul." 

How could this be done satisfactorily to 
God and to himself? — Just as it is done be- 
tween God and us. There is only one way, 
and that way is by loving Him ardently, lov- 
ing Him constantly, loving Him unreservedly 
with the soul. 

A step more, and it should be love of 
strength. Love, etymologically, is to hold 
some one dear, and for that some one it will 
not hesitate to call into action every muscle, 
every nerve, yea, every particle of strength. 
Love for country has caused thousands upon 
thousands of soldiers to march, fight, and de- 
fend their flag with their lives. Love for mas- 
ter prompts the servant to breast any storm, 
run any risk, battle with any difficulty while 
strength remains. Love for a dear one will 
put forth the utmost exertion by night or by 
day until exhausted nature compels a rest. 
So, likewise, will love for God be shown in 
homage and service with one's strength. 

Loving God with one's strength is not mere 
54 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

sentiment, but careful action; not a heedless 
thing, but earnest; not spasmodic, but con- 
stant. Wayland Hoyt writes of a group of 
stars called Perseus, which shine for two dayf 
with the brilliancy of a star of the second 
magnitude ; then suddenly lose their light, and 
in three hours drop to the radiance of a star 
of the fourth magnitude; then, in another 
three hours and a half, they flash up into their 
former brightness, but only to grow dim 
again. So is the love of many professed 
Christians to God. For a season it is bright 
and strong, then dim and weak. But God 
wants love of strength, wherever we are, with 
whomsoever we are, and in whatever circum- 
stances we are placed. Should He not have 
it? Shall we not give it? 

When Gustave Dore was putting the finish- 
ing touch on the face of the Jesus he was 
painting, a lady stepped quietly into the 
studio, and stood admiring the picture. 
Turning, the artist noticed the visitor, and po- 
litely said, ''Ah, madame! I did not know 
you were here." 

55 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

The lady replied, " Monsieur Dore, you 
must love Him to be able to paint Him so! " 

" Love Him, madame? I should think I 
do love Him! but if I loved Him more, I 
should paint Him better." So likewise if we 
loved Him more, think you not we should 
show it by our strength of purpose, deter- 
mination, and action? 

Finally, loving God should be with all the 
mind, all the intellectual powers concentrated 
on God. David knew this when he declared: 
" My meditation of Him shall be sweet." ^^ 

" What if God should place in your hand a 
diamond," wrote Payson to a young divinity 
student, '' and tell you to inscribe on it a sen- 
tence which should be read at the last day, 
and shown there as an index of your thoughts 
and feelings. What care and caution would 
you exercise in the selection! Now this is 
what God has done. He has placed before 
you human minds, on which you are about to 
inscribe, every day and every hour, by your 
instruction, by your spirit, and by your ex- 

"Ps. 104: 34. 

56 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

ample, something which will remain, and be 
exhibited for or against you at the judgment 
day." 

What sentence shall be inscribed on our 
mind? Shall it be one of the world? — God 
forbid; for it will rise to condemn us when 
we stand before him. Shall it be relative to 
self? — No; no! for that will make for van- 
ity, and Paul has exhorted that '' nothing be 
done through vainglory." ^^ Shall it be done 
to honor God? — Yes, for the chief end of life 
is to glorify Him. What, then, shall the sen- 
tence be? — ^^ Herein is love, not that we loved 
God, but that He loved us." '' 

Who — what — shall separate us from 
God's love? — Not '' death, nor life, nor an- 
gels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature." " No, — ■ 

" Not all that men on earth can do, 
Nor powers on high, nor powers below, 
Shall cause His mercy to remove, 
Or wean our hearts from Christ, our love." 

" Phil. 2:3. 13 I John 4 : 10. " Rom. 8 : 38, 39. 

57 



Ill 

THE LOVER'S OBJECT— ^^ THE 
WORLD " 

Wherever love exists, there is found an 
object of that love. This is as certain as that 
two hills suggest a valley, a coin the die, the 
shadow an object. It was love for children 
that led Robert Raikes to establish the Sun- 
day-school, love for suffering prisoners that 
prompted John Howard to bring about prison 
reform, love for suffering soldiers that in- 
spired Florence Nightingale and Clara Bar- 
ton to venture on the battle-field. It was love 
for the heathen that lent fame to Carey, love 
for birds that gave honor to Audubon, love 
for nature that bestowed glory on Thoreau, 
love for bees that brought a fortune to Huber, 
and love for the slaves that gave perpetuity 
to the names of Wilberforce and Lincoln. 
There is not a library nor a mechanic's shop 
but is an evidence of the love of knowledge; 

58 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

not a picture-gallery nor a flower garden but 
tells of the love of the beautiful ; not a cheer- 
ful home, however devoid of costly furniture, 
but speaks of the love of industry. 

Love turns to its object as the magnetic 
needle points to the north. As the law of grav- 
itation is to draw everything earthward, so the 
law of love is to draw everything heavenward. 
The lover's gift is to appeal to the receiver's 
heart. The nuptial knot is the result of mu- 
tual love. The mother rocks the cradle not 
for the cradle's sake, but for the love of the 
little life in the cradle. Unlike the thermom- 
eter, which rises and lowers to the outside 
temperature, love does not fluctuate. For 
association with its object it will give strength 
and swiftness; for its defense it will impart 
courage and banish fear; for its pleasure it 
will remove painful thorns and scatter fra- 
grant flowers in its pathway; and for its salva- 
tion it will bleed in sacrifice and die in atone- 
ment. 



59 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

THE WORLD 

The object of God's love is the world. The 
term sometimes denotes the whole universe, 
sometimes this planetary body, sometimes the 
people who inhabit it. As we love not the 
frame so much as the picture, nor the cage so 
much as the canary, so God loves not the 
world with its lighted tapers and fragrant 
flowers, its golden sun-rays and rippling rills, 
so much as the rational beings who live in the 
world. This world is cursed and scarred by 
sin, and therefore in its present condition it 
must perish. It is condemned, and, as Paul 
said, ^' The fashion of this world passeth 
away." ^ Thirteen fixed stars, according to as- 
tronomers, have disappeared in the last three 
centuries. Chemists teach that there is an 
inflammable element in water; and Sir 
Charles Lyell, in speaking of the combustible 
elements in our globe, says, ^' The wonder is, 
not that the earth will be dissolved, but that it 
exists for a moment." But if no astronomer, 
nor geologist, nor chemist, nor any scientist 

^ I Cor. 7: 31. 

60 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

will defend the assertion of Paul, God's infal- 
lible word is enough : " The heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also 
and the works that are therein shall be 
burned up." ^ 

It is not the material world that God so 
loves, but sinful creatures in the world, to 
whom He gave being and semblance of Him- 
self, desiring '' all men to be saved." ^ Plac- 
ing his hand on the shoulder of Dr. Pentecost 
after he had preached for Dr. Bonar, the 
latter said, " You love to preach, don't you? " 

" Yes, I do," answered Dr. Pentecost. 

" Do you love the men to whom you 
preach?" was the searching question then # 
asked. 

Did God love the world He made? What 
otherwise could he have done, when He pro- 
nounced the light, the earth and sea, the sun 
and moon, the creatures of the water, air, and 
land, yes, everything that He had made, very 
good! God's love for sinful man was so great 

^ 2 Peter 3:10. ^ i Tim. 2 : 4. 

61 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

that he sent His Son into the world, not " to 
condemn the world; but that the world 
through Him might be saved, '^ * and accord- 
ing to Paul's writing to Timothy, " Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners." ^ 
Such a thought was what won the admiration 
of the South Sea Islander when Mr. Nott read 
this precious declaration. '^ Is that true? 
Can that be true? " asked the native, as he 
rose from his seat. '' God loved the world 
when the world loved Him not! " Yes, and 
He loves it still, as the father loved his prod- 
igal son when absent from home. Every day 
brings new evidence that — 

..." endless is His love ; 
His gifts are every evening new. 

And morning mercies from above 
Gently distil like early dew." 

This love shines with great effulgence from 
the fact that this is a sinful world. From the 
day our first parents sinned, sin has been in- 
creasing until the earth fairly groans beneath 
its corruption. Sin has wrung tears from mil- 

* John 3:17. ° 1 Tim. i : 15. 

62 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

lions of eyes, broken millions of hearts, blasted 
millions of hopes, dug millions of graves, and 
ruined millions of souls. There is not a crime 
to which the world has not stooped, not a vice 
in which it has not indulged, not a risk it has 
not run, not an infamous charge it has not laid 
against God; and yet God loves the world. 
Could there be a more touching appeal to our 
hearts? 

This love is conspicuous from the fact that 
this is a treacherous world. Love woos us in 
order to save us from sorrow and death. To 
seek the pleasure of the world is to jeopardize 
the soul. There is not a glittering gem that 
the world offers but will bring sorrow as it 
did to Achan ; not an honor it can bestow that 
will not crush the receiver, as it did Haman ; 
and not a devotee at its shrine to whom it will 
not prove traitorous, as it did to Absalom. 
Beware of its sparkling beverage : it is 
drugged. Beware of its kiss; for while it 
kisses, it will stab, as Joab stabbed Amasa. 
Beware of its promise of liberty; for it will 
lead into captivity and death. But listen! it 

63 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

is good news. God so loved the world, the 
treacherous world, the present world, as to 
provide a way to save all who will come unto 
Him. 

This love is still more wonderful from the 
fact that this is a rebellious world. Against 
God and His authority many imitate Ab- 
salom. Not content with returning hatred for 
love, they take up arms against God. There 
were those in David's day who " rebelled 
against the words of God, and contemned the 
counsel of the Most High." ® Isaiah, in his 
day, wrote of those who ^' rebelled, and vexed 
His Holy Spirit." ^ There were those in the 
days of Jesus who said, " We will not have 
this Man to reign over us." ^ Nor are there 
lacking in our day those who rebel against 
His authority. His laws. His teaching, and 
who seem to take delight in arraying their 
tongues and pens against Him. What cruel 
dispositions! What sorrows and misery are 
they challenging! "Is that so?" said Dr. 
Bachus, president of Hamilton College, when 

®Ps. 107:11. 'Isa. 63:10. * Luke 19: 14. 

64 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

told he had but half an hour longer to live. 
" Then take me out of bed, and place me upon 
my knees, and let me spend that time in call- 
ing on God for the salvation of the world." 
Pray, O my soul! pray for these indifferent, 
rebellious, perishing creatures, who spurn 
divine love, and stop their ears to the voice of 
conscience, and revel in sin. Plead, O plead, 
my human powers ! and arrest them if possible 
from their awful doom over sin's precipice to 
the chasm of death. Sinner, do not — 

..." scorn the message, 
Sent in mercy from above. 
Every sentence, O how tender ! 
Every Hne is full of love: 

Listen to it ; 
Every line is full of love. 

" Hear the heralds of the gospel 

News from Zion's King proclaim : 
Pardon to each rebel sinner ; 
Free forgiveness in His name : 

How important — 
Free forgiveness in His name ! " 



65 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

THE lover's kind OF LOVE 

One significant thing about God's love is 
that it is the love of benevolence. Arthur T. 
Pierson speaks of the love of complacency 
and the love of benevolence, and explains the 
difference thus : The former " dv^ells on the 
lovable traits in others," the latter " loves most 
abundantly when there is no merit." With 
God it must have been the latter; for what 
lovable traits are there in the nature of man, 
who is born in sin, sinful in living, and cor- 
rupt in death? But because there was " none 
righteous, no, not one," ® in mercy and pity 
God loved man with benevolence, as the 
father loves his wayward son,— to aid, to 
exalt, to reinstate in the family. 

During the Revolutionary War a Dunkard 
named Miller was grievously insulted by a 
man named Widman, who was afterward sen- 
tenced to be hanged as a British spy. Miller 
went to General Washington and begged for 
Widman's life. The Commander-in-chief re- 

* Rom. 3 : 10. 

66 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

plied, " I would like to release Widman, be- 
cause he is your friend, but I dare not, even 
for that consideration." 

" Friend," cried Miller, '' why, he is my 
worst enemy, and therefore I want to save 
him." 

" Enemy," said Washington, '^ and you 
have come to me for your enemy's sake? Then 
I pardon him." 

That was benevolent love on the part of 
each. How much more God's love to the 
world I Widman insulted Miller once; the 
world insults God continually. Widman 
spat in Miller's face; the world is treating 
God contemptibly. Widman was sentenced 
to death; justice has demanded the full pen- 
alty of death on the world, but God's love has 
interceded, God's love has proffered mercy. 
Well might we demand our souls to sing His 
wondrous love, — 

" Who from yon bright throne above, 
Ever watchful o'er our race, 
Still to man extends His grace." 



67 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

THE OBJECT OF THE WORLD'S LOVE SHOULD 
BE GOD 

The world being the object of God's love, 
God should be the center of the world's affec- 
tion. That He should love a world we see no 
reason, but that the world should love Him 
we see great and strong reasons. Though in- 
dependent, His very nature craves the love 
of His creatures. All love given to Him is 
returned in a manifold, beneficent way, as 
the waters drawn by the sun from the rivers 
and seas are sent back in copious showers to 
nourish vegetation. To love God is the great- 
est service, the pleasantest occupation, the 
loftiest privilege, in which man can engage; 
and the reason the whole world loves Him 
not is because it has not yet discovered that 
" God is love." '' 

That was a great occasion when Columbus, 
in command of three small vessels and one 
hundred and twenty men, started on his ad- 
venturous enterprise to discover a new world. 
Interesting the undertaking of Ponce de 

^° I John 4 : 8. 

68 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Leon, who journeyed far to find the mythical 
fountain of youth and beauty. But far 
greater, far more interesting, is the explora- 
tion of God's love. There is no disappoint- 
ment to one who enters upon this quest, as to 
De Leon; nor no ingratitude shown, as to 
Columbus by Ferdinand; but there will be 
success, and with that success, joy; and that 
joy will come through knowledge, because 
" we have known and believed the love that 
God hath to us. God is love, and he that 
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God 
in him." '' 

Have you sought this loving and lovable 
God? Are you seeking to know and love 
Him? '^ Si vis amari, ama!' was Seneca's 
wise instruction, — " Love, if you wish to be 
loved." To comprehend all God's love is 
impossible, but to contemplate it is delightful. 
Go to your secret chamber, walk in some quiet 
retreat, enumerate God's favors to you, or 
consult some devout lover of Him, and you 
will not only find His love a sufficient cause 

" I John 4 : i6. 

69 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

for your love, but you will formulate an in- 
spired rule to love Him and to say: — 

..." God and Father, 
My Redeemer and my King; 
I would love Thee ; for without Thee 
Life is but a bitter thing. 

" I would love Thee ; I have vowed it ; 
On Thy love my heart is set: 
While I love Thee, I will never 
My Redeemer's blood forget." 

To love God is right for every person in 
the world, because God loves every person in 
the world. It is the most commendable thing; 
for love is the greatest virtue. "And now 
abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the 
greatest of these is love." ^^ It is the most ob- 
ligatory service ; for God has loved us " with 
an everlasting love," ^^ and has commended 
His love toward us, while yet sinners, by 
sending " His only begotten Son into the 
world, that we might live through Him." " 

Love is immortal. Many things are of 
short duration. Hate, envy, strife, end with 

^2 1 Cor. 13 : 13. "Jer. 31:3. ^* i John 4 : 9. 

70 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

the grave. Influence lives beyond it; but, if 
evil, it receives its death-blow at the judg- 
ment. But love — love to God — never 
ceases. Its reign is eternal, and its song in this 
present life and in the life to come is, — 

" E'en so I love Thee, and will love, 
And in Thy praise will sing ; 
Solely because Thou art my God, 
And my eternal King." 

When in the height of his power, Napoleon 
Bonaparte established in one of the little 
towns of France an orphanage for girls. 
After his return from banishment at Elba, he 
paid it a visit. The girls crowded about him 
as he left, and gave him the most touching 
expressions of their love and admiration. 
They covered his hands with kisses and tears, 
claiming the privilege of a last grasp and a 
last word as he left. Afterward came Water- 
loo, and his banishment to the rocky isle of St. 
Helena. His power was at an end. His Old 
Guard bit the dust, his empire fell with a 
crash, and with it his glory, his ensign, and 
his air-castles crumbled in a single night. One 

71 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

thing, however, survived which gave him real 
pleasure, and brought from his lips exclama- 
tions of joy. It was the kind words, the tears, 
and the kisses of those orphan children. 

Love God, you who peruse these pages. 
That love is the only basis for noble character, 
the only true principle for a pure life, the 
only band that can not be broken by death, the 
only investment that will bring an eternal in- 
terest. Will you love Him? Say: By His 
help I will. Then pray, — 

" Leave me not, my Strength, my Trust ; 
Oh, remember I am dust. 
Leave me not again to stray ; 
Fix my heart on things above ; 
Make me happy in Thy love." 

THE KIND OF LOVE GOD WANTS FROM 
THE WORLD 

Inasmuch as God's love is that of benevo- 
lence, should not every person return a spe- 
cial love to Him — a love of unselfishness? 
Too many love self, for which they will un- 
dertake long journeys, undergo severe hard- 

72 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

ships, and make great sacrifices, all of which 
they do not for God, because of a lack of love 
for Him. 

When Dr. Franklin applied to the King of 
Prussia to lend his assistance to America, the 
latter asked : " Pray, Doctor, what is the ob- 
ject you mean to attain? " 

" Liberty, sire," replied the philosopher,-^ 
'' Liberty! that freedom which is the birth- 
right of all men." 

After a short pause the king made answer : 
'' I was born a prince, I am become a king, 
and I will not use the power I possess to the 
ruin of my own trade." Ah, self, " ruling 
tyrant," excluding, as thou dost and ever 
wilt, the love and right of others, thou art 
the social brigand that demands obeisance, 
extorting the capital of one's fellow men, 
whether under protest or not. 

" O impudent ! regardful of thy own, 
Whose thoughts are centered on thyself alone." 

Which is the better — love or selfishness? 
Contrast food and poison, purity and vice, 

73 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

heaven and hell, God and Satan, and ask the 
question, "Which is better?" Selfishness is 
a winter's frost, congealing the best instincts 
in the human breast; love is a springtime 
zephyr, transforming flakes of snow into 
drops of rain, and turning the frozen clods 
to mellowness and beauty. Selfishness " m.akes 
the miser's wealth a Dead Sea of riches, but 
love changes it into a river flowing through 
happy fields." Selfishness recognizes no law 
but its own; love recognizes all God's laws, 
and seeks to fulfill them. Selfishness is mis- 
ery; love is happiness. "The love of self," 
said Charnock, " is the great letter in the al- 
phabet of practical atheism. It is the great 
anti-God;" but love for God is the cement 
that binds hearts to God and to each other. 
" Your soul," said Dr. Gordon, " is useless to 
God till taken out from sin and earthliness 
and selfishness, in which it is buried." " To 
emigrate," said Henry Ward Beecher, " from 
the low country of selfishness, where are per- 
petual chills and fevers, to the highlands of 
benevolence, goes from sickness and barren- 

74 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

ness to the realms of health, plenty, and joy, 
where the hand can almost pluck the fruits 
from the tree of life itself." Which is better? 
— Love ! for that is — 

..." life's end ! an end, but never ending ; 
All joys, all sweets, all happiness, awarding ; 
Love is life's wealth (ne'er spent, but ever spend- 
ing), 
More rich by giving, taking by discarding ; 
Love's life's reward, rewarding in rewarding." 

Before the Civil War a traveler passing 
through the South had his pity awakened for 
a young slave. He purchased her from her 
master and gave her her liberty. After the 
bargain had been completed, he found diffi- 
culty in making the girl realize that she was 
actually free. At last that fact dawned upon 
her in its fulness of meaning; but, instead of 
exulting in her new-gained liberty, she ex- 
claimed: "Oh, he has set me free! I can 
never thank him enough ! I will serve him all 
my life ! " She thought not of pleasing her- 
self, but her friend; and when any one would 
speak of her loving service to her benefactor, 

75 



THE LOVER^S LOVE 

she would reply, " He redeemed me! He re- 
deemed me ! I will serve him all my life." 

Would to God there were more love like 
this to Him who loved us so much. He de- 
serves it, He should have it. Will you not so 
love Him? Tune your heart and voice, dear 
friend, to sing: — 

" Thee will I love, my strength, my tower ; 

Thee will I love, my joy, my crown; 
Thee will I love with all my power. 

In all my works, and Thee alone. 
Thee will I love till sacred fire 

Fill my whole soul with pure desire." 



76 



IV 

THE LOVER'S PROOF— ''THAT 
HE GAVE" 

" Love requires not so much proof," wrote 
Richter, '' as expressions of love." Spoken 
or shown, such are indicative of that virtue, 
and none are more essentially communicative. 
It successfully challenges all tests, and never 
asks, ''What shall I get?" but, always, "What 
shall I give?" As the touch of the electric 
button makes the bell ring, or flashes on the 
light, so love with its gentle touch makes the 
tongue speak, the eye glow, the cheek smile, 
the hands work, the brain think, and the heart 
feel. 

Thomas a Kempis, in his " Imitation of 
Christ," speaks of love as that which makes 
every heavy thing light, thinks nothing of 
trouble, attempts what is above its strength, 
complains not of impossibility; being weary, 
is not tired; being pressed, is not straitened; 

11 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

being alarmed, is not confounded; but is ac- 
tive, amiable, courageous, and never seeking 
itself. 

" 'Tis the caress of everything : 

The turtle-dove; 
Both birds and beasts do offerings bring 

To mighty Love. 
'Tis the angels' joy, and earth's delight, 

Man's bliss; 
'Tis all in all. Without love nothing is." 

Love is evidential. It is circumspect, but 
hides itself no more than the twinkling star. 
If it will not sing its praise in words, it can 
not refrain from singing in deeds. Sympathy 
is its very life-breath — 

" The silver link, the silken tie, 
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind. 
In body and in soul can bind." 

When the poor widow told her troubles to 
Elisha, the prophet did not say, " I sympa- 
thize with you; I hope you will prosper," but 
he gave her real help. Several times we read 
that Jesus was " moved with compassion ; " * 

^ Matt. 9:36; 14:14; Mark 6 : 34. 

78 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

but it was of that practical kind that cleansed 
the leper, ministered to the sick, and fed the 
hungry multitude. 

Such evidences Paul calls "labors of love.'" 
But anything that gives comfort, extends priv- 
ileges, and is a blessing, is simply God's love- 
gift. Everything, before and since tiie un- 
equaled gift of His Son, centers in that gift 
itself. " He gave," and still gives. The 
whole history of the world and of man is a 
history of gifts. God gave His wisdom in 
fashioning the world, His strength in laying 
its foundation. His radiance in lighting it. His 
beauty in adorning it, His breath in making it 
fragrant. Does the earth need rain? God 
" giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth 
waters upon the fields." ^ Does it need sea- 
sons? " I will give you rain in due season, 
and the land shall yield her increase, and the 
trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And 
your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, 
and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing 
time." * Do its inhabitants need life? Isaiah 

^ I Thess. 1:3. ^ Job 5:10. * Lev. 26 : 4, 5. 

79 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

declares, " He . . . giveth breath unto the 
people upon it, and spirit to them that walk 
therein."^ Do they need strength? David 
sings, " The God of Israel is He that giveth 
strength and power unto His people." ^ Do 
they need an abundance of wisdom and 
knowledge? Solomon boasts that ^' God 
giveth to a man that is good in His sight, wis- 
dom, and knowledge, and joy." ^ Do they 
need life eternal? Paul declares, "The gift 
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 
Lord." ' 

HOW GOD GIVES 

An interesting thing about the love-gifts of 
God is the manner in which they are given. 
Lavatar said : " The manner of giving shows 
the character of the giver more than the gift 
itself." A forced gift is attended with ill 
grace. An awkward gift denotes lack of pol- 
ish or self-control. A love-gift speaks in ten- 
derness, and shows with politeness the feelings 
of the giver. 

^ Isa. 42 : 5. ' Ps. 68 : 35- ' Eccl. 2 : 26. 

^Rom. 6 : 23. 

80 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

God's love-gifts are diversified and gratui- 
tous. Paul, interrogating the Romans, said: 
" He that spared not His own Son, but de- 
livered Him up for us all, how shall He not 
with Him also freely give us all things?"^ 
Not that He is under obligation, but, loving 
us, such gifts are His supreme delight. These 
gifts come in all forms and for all classes, in 
demonstration of fixed laws of His bountiful 
provision. 

Rowland Hill had two men in his congre- 
gation of opposite circumstances. One was 
rich, the other poor. The rich man placed a 
sum of money in Mr. Hill's hand for the poor 
man. It was not to be sent all at once. First 
was a note for five pounds with the endorse- 
ment: " More to follow." Every few months 
came the remittance with the same message: 
" More to follow." So with God's gifts. Not 
only are they free as the air we breathe, but 
each is prophetic of another supply already 
on the way. 

^ Rom. 8 : 32. 



81 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

*' More and more, more and more, 
Always more to follow; 
Oh, His matchless, boundless love ! 
Still there's more to follow." 

God's love-gifts are liberal. They are "ex- 
ceeding abundantly above all that we ask 
or think." ^^ He opens His hand, and the 
feathered songsters, the finny tribe, the beasts 
of hill and vale, are fed. From the heavenly 
storehouse He supplies the needs of His intel- 
ligent creatures, and to each these needs are 
supplied " according to His riches in glory by 
Christ Jesus." '' 

Back of the liberality and the number of 
God's gifts, is His profound love. Among 
the treasures that Dr. Joseph Parker used to 
show his friends was a check from a noted 
man, payable at the Bank of England. He 
would not cash it, saying: " This is too valu- 
able to go over the counters of exchange ; " 
and upon it he had written : " Payable at the 
bank of love — not negotiable." 

But God's bank-notes are all negotiable. 

^« Eph. 3 : 20. " Phil. 4:19. 

82 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Love gave them, and love desires them 
cashed, and cashed now. Old Cornelius Van- 
derbilt was the rich man of his day; but when 
nearing death, he realized that he was a spir- 
itual pauper. Turning his back on his ninety 
millions of dollars, he asked his Christian 
wife to pray, and to sing one of the old Chris- 
tian hymns. Paupers we may be as regards 
this world's goods, but we can be rich because 
of this love-check of God. 

When Lawrence was called before the em- 
peror to give an account of the church treas- 
ures, he was asked where they were con- 
cealed. He answered that within three days 
he would show them. The third day follow- 
ing he gathered together the sick and the poor 
to whom he had dispensed alms, and placing 
them before the emperor, said: '' Behold, here 
are the treasures of the church, the needs of 
whom have been supplied." And one glimpse 
of man is evidence that the outstretched hand 
of God discloses a loving heart as He scatters 
blessings as liberal as the sun's rays. 



83 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

'' Lord, I hear of showers of blessing, 
Thou art scattering full and free, — 
Showers the thirsty land refreshing, — 
Let some drops now fall on me." 

God's love-gifts are constant. Not a day 
passes but He loads us with benefits. James 
Bundy, of Bristol, England, used to visit the 
markets once a week to aid the poor. If he 
saw a needy person looking at some necessary 
food, and inquiring its price, then turning 
away for lack of money to make the purchase, 
he would call him back, and ask, " What can 
you afford to give for it? " On being told 
how much, he would produce the additional 
sum, and enable the poor man to make the 
purchase. Our loving God goes farther, and 
gives the right things at the right time, and in 
the best way. It is '' day by day " '' that the 
clouds drop fatness ; the sun imparts light and 
heat; the ships and trains come frotn every 
point of the compass, bringing furs from the 
arctics, fruits from the tropics, and cereals 
from the temperate zones. His gifts are so 

^^ Luke 11:3. 

84 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

generous, exceeding in quality and quantity 
anything we could expect. They are gracious ; 
for no one but a lover like God would give 
them when there is such lack of worthiness. 
They are so well adapted to our condition 
that they challenge our attention, and compel 
us continually to declare that " God is 
good." 

God's love-gifts are kingly, Alexander the 
Great startled a noble captive by his gen- 
erosity, when he said, " I give as a king." 
Alfred the Great retired to one of his strong 
castles when defeated by the Danes. A beg- 
gar came and asked alms. The queen in- 
formed her husband that they had but one 
loaf, which was insufficient for them and their 
friends, who were gone abroad in search of 
food, with little hope of success. The king 
said to his wife, " Give the poor man half the 
loaf. He who could feed the five thousand 
with five loaves and two small fishes can make 
the remaining half-loaf meet our necessities." 

A story is told of a poor woman who looked 
longingly at the flowers in a king's garden, 

85 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

wishing to buy some for her sick daughter. 
She was repelled by the gardener, who rudely 
told her, " The king's flowers are not for sale." 
The king, chancing to pass, plucked a bou- 
quet, and gave it to the wistful woman, say- 
ing: "The king does not sell his flowers; he 
gives them away." How much like our lov- 
ing Father; for when He gives, it is with a 
kingly spirit, and from His kingly storehouse 
of abundance. All life, all health, all free- 
dom, all sustenance, come from Him. " The 
silver is mine," says He, " and the gold is 
mine." ^^ " Every beast of the forest is mine, 
and the cattle upon a thousand hills." ^* 
" They that seek the Lord shall not want any 
good thing."'' "I the Lord do all these 
things." '' 

HOW, WHAT, AND WHEN WE SHOULD GIVE 

A gift is something voluntarily given by 
one to another without compensation. But 
is it right to receive all, and give none, when 

'3Haggai2:8. "Ps. 50:10. ^'Ps. 34:10. 

^« Isa. 45 : 7- 

86 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

one has plenty? " He respecteth not the 
gifts," said Thomas a Kempis, "but turneth 
himself above all good unto the Giver." Love 
is like an echo, — it returns what it receives. 
Without the reflex influence of giving, one 
becomes an ungrateful miser. This is why 
so many who enjoy God's love-gifts seldom 
reciprocate. They accept all as a matter of 
course, but to give back is out of the question. 
Should it not be done? Will not gratefulness 
prompt it? Will it not specify how to give, 
what to give, and when to give to God? The 
" how " will show the spirit, the " what " the 
value, and the " when " the time to give. 

How give? — Cheerfully! The grudging 
gift is not acceptable to God. He gives to 
us as if we were kings ; too many of us give to 
Him as if He were a beggar. He gives to 
us the things that He values the highest; too 
many of us give Him those things we can do 
without. He gives as if it were part of His 
life's existence ; we give as if it would be our 
destruction. What a contrast! His are as 
freely and bountifully given as the manna 

87 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

to Israel; ours as ungraciously and with as 
little faith as Cain's. 

One cold, dark evening a shop-girl was 
hurrying home after a hard day's work. She 
was poorly dressed, and every gust of wind 
sent a chill through her delicate body. A 
blind man sat in the alley by the pavement, 
silently offering pencils for sale to the heed- 
less crowd. He had no overcoat. His thin 
hand clasped with purple fingers the wet, 
sleet-covered pencils. The girl passed the 
man. About half a block away she fumbled 
in her pocket, and, turning, walked back. 
For a moment she looked intently at the ven- 
der of the pencils ; and when she saw that he 
gave no sign, she quietly dropped a ten-cent 
piece into his hand, and walked away. Soon 
she stopped, turned, and walked rapidly back 
to the dark alley, and the man half hiding in 
it. Bending over him, she said, softly, "Are 
you really blind? " 

With an indescribable gesture he pointed 
to his breast. There hung the dull badge of 
the Grand Army of the Republic. 

88 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

" I beg your pardon, sir," she humbly said. 
" Please give me back my ten cents." 

" Yes, ma'am," he answered, and held out 
the coin. 

She took out her purse. It was a very thin 
one. It contained but three silver dollars. 
She put one dollar of her little store, — just 
one third of her week's hard earnings, — into 
his hand, with the words, '' Take this instead, 
for the dear Lord's sake, and go home now. 
You ought not to sit here in the bitter wind 
and sleet." Then she turned her steps home- 
ward, pitying the wretched man, and thinking 
that no one had seen her. But God — that 
loving, tender God, who values quality rather 
than quantity — noticed not only the gift but 
the spirit of cheerfulness with which she gave, 
and credited it to her eternal account. 

What give? — God asks the heart. Giving 
that, we give all, and in so giving we shall find 
it more to our advantage than His. Like the 
pupil who said to Socrates, when others were 
giving rich gifts, " I have nothing to give but 
biyself," we shall find in reality that God will 

89 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

do as the philosopher answered, " I will en- 
deavor to give thee back to thyself better than 
I received thee." It is said that Robert Bruce 
was anxious that his heart be buried in the 
Holy Land. Isabella, the daughter of the 
Earl of Pembroke, wanted hers interred in 
Tewksbury Cathedral. Lord Windsor, dying 
in a foreign land, ordered his to be buried in 
Bradenham Chapel, England. How much 
better to place it in God's hand, especially as 
He requests it. That is what David did when 
he said, ^' My heart is fixed: I will sing and 
give praise."" Sing! of course he could. 
" When there is love in the heart, there are 
rainbows in the eyes," sunshine in the face, 
and music on the lips. We can give our hearts 
to God. Then come, dear one, and present 
thy heart to Him, saying, — 

" 'Tis all the sacrifice I bring ; 
Thou God of grace, wilt not despise 
A broken heart for sacrifice." 

Then you will pray and promise — 

" Ps. 57 : 7. 
90 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

" O, may Thy love inspire my tongue ! 
Salvation shall be all my song, 
And all my powers shall join to bless 
The Lord, my strength and righteousness." 

When give? There is but one season in 
which God deals with man, and that is NOW. 
What a word! All God's love, all eternal 
happiness, all hope of salvation, hinge on that 
word! NOW is the pivot on which destiny 
turns. NOW is the market in which to buy 
the kingdom of God. NOW is the time to 
become Godlike. Now, or it may be never. 
For — 

" The moment we forego 
Eternity itself can not retrieve." 

''I wasted time," said Richard III., '^ and 
now doth time waste me." Take warning, 
then, and — 

" Seize the present hour. 

The Saviour's grace to prove; 
He can relieve, for He has power ; 
He will, for He is love." 

When the " Rio de Janeiro " struck the 
rock at the entrance of San Francisco harbor 

91 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

that chill February night in nineteen hundred 
two, a hundred and twenty-eight lives were 
lost. Consul-General Wildman and family, 
of China, were aboard. Quartermaster Lind- 
strom, who was the last white man to leave the 
ship, said that Mr. Wildman lost his life, and 
caused the death of his wife and children, by 
remaining on board long after he could have 
gone in a boat. The captain offered the Wild- 
mans the first chance in the boats; but Mrs. 
Wildman refused to go without her husband. 
Later, Mr. Wildman urged her to go, and 
while she was preparing to get into the boat, 
the ship sank, and all perished. Hesitation 
on the part of one not only meant death to that 
one, but it involved others. Hesitation on 
your part to give your heart to God may mean 
not only the loss of your own soul, but the 
loss of other souls. O, make the right deci- 
sion now! give your heart to Him to-day! 

" Give, for God to thee hath given ; 
Love, for He by love is known ; 
Child of God, and heir of heaven. 
Let thy parentage be shown.'' 

92 



THE LOVER'S GIFT— "HIS ONLY 
BEGOTTEN SON" 

Great is the diversity of gifts! Many are 
ordinary, some extraordinary. All cost some- 
thing, few everything. Frequently the gift 
outlasts the giver, the love outlasts both. 
Roses fade, yet their perfume rises to per- 
meate and purify the atmosphere. Sunbeams 
dance not in vain ; for, like the artist's brush, 
they leave a variety of color on every leaf, 
blade, and face they touch. Nothing single 
exists. Everything is composed of elements 
or influences which date back into the past, 
and reach forward into the future. Cause 
and effect go hand in hand. Love and gifts 
are inseparable as sun and light. Because 
God was love, He gave ; and because He still 
loves. He gives. Love's arithmetic is that 
of addition. It gives to give. God gave 
Jesus, Jesus gave Himself. Like a double 

93 



THE LOVER^S LOVE 

flower, inseparable in the arrangement of its 
petals, so the Godhead is inseparable in love. 
Love was the glorious principle which 
prompted God to give His Son, and love was 
the impelling motive that brought that Son 
to us. ^' Herein is love, not that we loved 
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son 
to be the propitiation for our sins." ^ " Christ 
also hath loved us, and hath given Himself 
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a 
sweet-smelling savor." ^ Failure to recognize 
the indissoluble relation of God and Jesus, 
means failure in the comprehension of John 
three-sixteen. " I and My Father are one," ^ 
is the principle by which the mystery of re- 
demption is solved. God was no more will- 
ing to give Jesus than Jesus was willing to 
give Himself. The desire to give was mu- 
tual. Both loved with the same intensity, 
loved the same object, and loved with the 
same purpose, — the salvation of those scarred 
and cursed by sin. God's love is the promi- 
nent feature of the Golden Text, and no less 
is Christ's; for it — 

M John 4: 10. ^Eph. 5:2. ^ John 10: 30. 

94 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

..." shines in Jesus' face, 
The brightest image of His grace ; 
God, in the person of His Son, 
Has all His mightiest works outdone." 

Vincent de Paul was educated for the 
priesthood. While on his way to Marseilles, 
the ship on which he journeyed was captured 
by pirates, and he with others was taken to 
Tunis, and sold as a slave. After serving a 
few years as a physician's clerk and farm- 
hand he escaped, crossing the Mediterranean 
in a small boat, and landed near Aigues- 
Mortes. At Marseilles he was moved by the 
hardships of a prisoner whom he saw on one 
of the prison ships. It did not take him long 
to learn from the records that he was a polit- 
ical prisoner. One fine morfiing Vincent de 
Paul ascended the side of the ship. The pris- 
oner, heavily chained, stood leaning against 
the bulwarks, gazing longingly toward the 
land. The tender green that clothed field and 
forest, the brightness of the sun-kissed waves, 
all the loveliness of nature, only intensified 
the despair of the man's face and attitude. De 
Paul questioned him. The convict evaded 

95 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

the interrogations until love, beaming from 
eye and ringing in voice, touched his heart 
and lips. " My wife and children, they will 
starve," he said. '' Were I at liberty, I could 
care for them; but now " and an agon- 
ized gesture finished the sentence. Vincent 
de Paul's face was transformed. Sadness gave 
place to a beauty of holiness. " Be brave, my 
brother," he said, as he clasped his hand over 
the manacled one of the prisoner. " God bids 
me tell you to hope." A few days elapsed, 
and the captive was with his family. Vincent 
de Paul by some means had taken his place. 

Did Christ, our blessed Lord, do less? Did 
He not see humanity shackled by sin? Did 
He not hear the cry of despair? Did not that 
unequaled love which angels never compre- 
hended, prompt Him to take their place, bear 
their burdens, weep their tears, and share their 
heartaches ? — Yes ! 

" With pitying eyes the Prince of grace 
Beheld our helpless grief: 
He saw, and — O, amazing love ! — 
He saw to our relief." 

96 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

THE GIFT OF GOD 

The gift of God was specific and unspeak- 
able. He gave His only begotten Son. Abra- 
ham was willing to give his son to please God; 
God was willing to give His Son to appease 
sin. When He saw the world steeped in wick- 
edness, and violated justice demanded the de- 
struction of the human family, He knew but 
one way of recourse, and that was sacrifice. 
Thus He spared not His — 

. . . "only Son, 
But gave Him for the world undone, 
And freely with that blessed One 
Gave all." 

This gift was not the result of a moment's 
thought, but long-premeditated, long-prom- 
ised. Before our first parents were expelled 
from Paradise, an assurance was given of One 
who should bruise the serpent's head. Abra- 
ham rejoiced that through his family all the 
nations of the earth were to be blessed. Dying 
Jacob, in his benediction upon Judah, de- 
clared, ^^ The scepter shall not depart from 
7 97 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Judah, nor a lawgiver from between His feet, 
until Shiloh come." * Isaiah, Jeremiah, and 
Micah, wrapped in prophetic vision, tell of 
His glorious appearance: "Behold, a virgin 
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call 
His name Immanuel." ' " Behold, the days 
come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto 
David a righteous Branch, and a King shall 
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment 
in the earth." ' " But thou, Bethlehem Eph- 
ratah, . . . out of thee shall He come forth 
unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose 
goings forth have been of oldj from everlast- 
ing." ' 

Such a Gift! Before it the angels were 
compelled to pause. The queen of Sheba 
gave Solomon spices, gold, and precious 
stones. Herod offered Salome half of his 
kingdom. But contemplate God's gift for a 
moment. It is the manifestation of the great- 
est love, such as never was before or since. It 
was not money nor lands, men nor angels, but 
His Son, " the Lord of Glory," ^ the " King 

* Gen. 49 : 10. ^ Isa. 7 : 14. ^ Jer. 2^ : 5. 

' Micah 5:2. *■ James 2 : i. 

98 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

of Glory," ' the " Mighty God," '' the Eternal 
Logos, '' Lord of lords," ^' and King of kings. 
How great the gift! In this gift how great 
the evidence of God's love. Wonderful! 
Amazing! 

While an evangelist read and explained 
John three-sixteen at a street meeting, a hard- 
hearted man stepped up to him, and said: 
'^ I'm a bad man, I've committed almost 
every crime, but I have two little boys, and I 
love my boys. I wouldn't give one of them 
for the best friend I've got. When you said 
that God so loved me that He gave His Son, 
that broke my heart." And it ought to break 
any heart; for love so excelling was never 
shown as when God " spared not His own 
Son, but delivered Him up for us all." ^^ 

Such a Gift! Heaven would have each one 
consider that this Gift is God's begotten and 
beloved Son, '' the first-begotten " ^^ unto the 
world; the ''beloved Son," in whom He is 
well pleased." This word " begotten " tells 

«Ps. 24:10. "Isa. 9:6. "Rev. 17:14. 

"Rom. 8:32. ^^'Heb. 1:6. "Matt. 3:17. 

99 

L.ofC. 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

of that free and mysterious relation between 
God and Christ, — a relation that finite minds 
can not determine, nor finite tongues explain, 
— a relation which is the resplendence of the 
Godhead; ''the brightness of God's glory, 
and the express image of His person," ^^ " all 
the fulness of the Godhead bodily," '' '' made 
in the likeness of man," " '' God . . . mani- 
fest in the flesh." '^ 

In spite of skeptical and liberalistic denun- 
ciations, the divinity of Jesus stands forth 
prominently in the Scriptures. His humanity 
without His deity is " a casket without a pearl, 
a shrine without its Shekinah." John Baptist 
beheld Him, and said, '' I saw, and bare rec- 
ord that this is the Son of God." '' Peter, 
associated with Him, declared, " Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God." '' The 
centurion, standing at the cross, confessed, 
"Truly this was the Son of God."'' The 
devils who fled at His word acknowledged, 
'' Thou art Christ, the Son of God." '' The 



'' Heb. I : 3. 


" Col. 2 : 9. 


^' Phil. 2 : 7. 


i« I Tim. 3 : i6. 


i« John I : 34- 


-oMatt. 16: 16. 


'"■ Matt. 28 : 54- 


22 Luke 4: 41. 
100 





JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

eunuch, embracing the Christian faith, said, 
" I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 
God." ^^ William E. Gladstone, responding 
to an inquiry concerning his Christian belief, 
wrote, "All I think, all I hope, all I write, 
all I live for, is based upon the divinity of 
Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor, way- 
ward heart." Glorious testimonies! To 
think that " the only begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth," ^* should give Him- 
self for sinful men, transcends all admiration. 
Such a Gift! Ponder Him a moment 
longer. He is God's only Son. The limita- 
tations of that word " only " are circum- 
scribed by the whole of God's love. Only 
through Him can we love; only by His love 
are we free from condemnation; only in His 
love have we access to God ; for " no man," 
said Jesus, " cometh unto the Father, but by 
Me." '^ " None to spare," is the answer of 
struggling parents when solicited for one of 
their children ; but to give up the only one, — 
what pain, what sorrow, must it have caused! 

2^ Acts 8: 37. ^Johni:i4. ^^]o\ini^'.6. 

lOI 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

A father and mother had four children. 
Disease entered their home. One, two, three, 
of the children died. A short time afterward 
the only remaining son came running in from 
the field. His foot pained him. Evidently 
it had been bitten by a rattlesnake. In a short 
time it began to swell, and soon the lad died. 
The mother said to the writer: " It is so hard, 
but God's will be done." A Moravian mother 
had three sons, one of whom gave himself to 
missions. Sometime afterward a friend called 
upon her with sadness in his looks. " Your 
son," said he, " is gone." 

" Is Thomas fallen asleep through the mis- 
sionary life? Would to God that he would 
call my son John! " 

John was called. He went, he fell. This 
time the committee was very sad; but, before 
uttering a w^ord, the aged mother, anticipat- 
ing the story, exclaimed : — 

" Thank God! Oh, that he would call my 
last son, William! " 

William was called. He, too, went and 
soon died, and that mother said, " Would that 
I had a thousand sons to give to God! " 

1 02 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Give to whom? — God! Yes, God the 
Father, who created them, and gladly receives 
to make them happy. But when He gave His 
" unspeakable Gift," '' He gave His all. His 
equal, " the Son of His love, who was ever 
with Him, and ever His delight." He gave 
Him not to be elevated to a throne, or to be 
free from care and pain, but to be " a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief," ^^ — a 
servant to toil and suffer, and at last to be a 
sacrifice for sin. Astounding gift — ^' an in- 
dex of love too high, too deep, too divine, for 
mortals to comprehend." 

" O great heart of God ! whose loving 
Can not hindered be, nor crossed ; 

Love divine ! of such great loving 
Only mothers know the cost, — 

Cost of love, which all love passing, 
Gave a Son to save the lost." 

Investigation of the purpose for which God 
gave His Son will cause appreciation of that 
Son. Isaiah, looking down the stream of 

*^ 2 Cor. 9: 15- "^ Isa. 53 : 3. 

103 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

time, said, " He was wounded for our trans- 
gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." ^^ 
He became man's substitute, and took — 

" The dying traitor's place, 
And suffered in his stead." 

Eleanor, the wife of Edward the First of 
England, ventured her life to save that of her 
husband by sucking the poison from a wound 
made by a poisoned dagger. The emperor 
of Austria conferred the Silver Crown of 
Merit upon a young soldier, who, finding a 
young shepherdess that had been bitten by a 
viper, sucked the poison, thus saving her life, 
but rendering himself a life-long invalid. 
Both jeopardized their lives for others. 

Dr. Franz Mueller, of Vienna, died of bu- 
bonic fever. When his friend. Dr. Borisch, 
fell a victim to that disease, he nursed him 
until death came, exposing with generous self- 
renunciation his own life in so doing; then, 
attacked by the fever himself, he devoted 
the short tim.e that remained to him to re- 
cording for the benefit of others the result 

=^Msa. 53: 5. 
104 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

of his scientific observations. '^ I am suffering 
from the plague," was the message he posted 
on the window-pane. '^ Please do not send a 
doctor to me, as, in any event, my end will 
come in four or five days." A sacrifice for his 
colleague. 

William Phelps and James Stansbury were 
cleaning the inside of an eight-foot boiler at 
the cereal mills in Indianapolis. An em- 
ployee, thinking the stop-cock was tight, 
turned on the steam, which poured in upon 
them. The only exit was up a ladder to a 
man-hole in the top. Both jumped for the 
ladder. Phelps reached it first, but, stepping 
aside, shouted: "You go first, Jim, you 
are married." Stansbury escaped, slightly 
burned, but poor Phelps, before he reached 
the top of the ladder, was so fearfully scalded 
that the flesh was dropping from his limbs. 
He lived but two hours, and those were hours 
of agony. Before dying, he said: "It was 
Jim's right to go first. He's married." A 
sacrifice for a fellow workman. 

Thomas Hovenden, the artist of " Break- 
105 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

ing Home Ties," saw little Bessie Peifer 
crossing the railroad tracks near Norristown, 
Pennsylvania, when a fast train was bearing 
down upon her. When the engineer saw the 
little figure standing between the rails, he 
blew his whistle freely, but the child, becom- 
ing confused, did not avoid the train. In- 
stantly Mr. Hovenden rushed forward, and 
seized the little girl in his arms; but before he 
could make the leap that would have saved 
them both, the engine struck him, and hurled 
him with terrific force across the track. The 
engineer stopped his train as soon as possible, 
and with his fireman ran where Mr. Hoven- 
den and the little girl were lying side by side. 
Both were dead. One the sacrifice for the 
other. 

But when God gave His Son, it was a sac- 
rifice the most painful, that sinners and 
traitors might be reconciled to Him. He 
gave life to redeem life. He demonstrated 
love to magnify God's love in the design of 
human redemption, hesitating at no peril, nor 
pausing at the greatest sacrifice. " Greater 

1 06 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

love hath no man than this, that a man lay- 
down his life for his friends." ^' '' For 
scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet 
peradventure for a good man some would 
even dare to die. But God commendeth His 
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sin- 
ners, Christ died for us." '' 

Have you not read the story? It is without 
parallel in fact or fiction, — the most unique 
in history. It is not akin to the hemlock poi- 
son that Socrates drank, or the stake at v/hich 
Latimer was burned. The flamed lamb on 
the altar, the brazen serpent elevated in the 
wilderness, the smitten rock in the desert, the 
Paschal blood on the doors, are but faint types 
of Him " who His own self bare our sins in 
His own body on the tree." ^^ Pass over His 
incarnation, — the mystery of wisdom and 
love, — and the life of humbling preparation 
for the cross. Give but one glance at His 
agony in Gethsemane, when ^' His sweat was 
as it were great drops of blood." ^^ Stay not 

-''John 15: 13. ^oRom. 5:7, 8. ^^ i Peter 2 : 24. 

^^ Luke 22 : 44. 

107 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

in the judgment hall to watch the proceedings 
of derision that marred His visage more than 
any man, and " His form more than the sons 
of men." ^^ But rivet your attention on " the 
Lamb of God " ^* hanging there on the cross, 
stained with blood. See the crimson mark on 
His cheek, and the life-giving fluid oozing 
from His hands and feet, which had been 
penetrated by spikes. The mouth is parched, 
the eyes are bloodshot, and the sensitive frame 
twitches with cruel pain. The oriental sun, 
beating down on the unprotected head, pro- 
duces fever, and a throbbing which seems as 
if it would burst the skull. The breath comes 
in gasps, and every straightened movement 
for relief aggravates the pain. The Victim 
experiences David's prophecy: " I am poured 
out like water, and all my bones are out of 
joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the 
midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up 
like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to 
my jaws; and Thou hast brought me into the 
dust of death." ^^ The bosom heaves and falls, 

^ Isa. 52 : 14. ^* John i : 29. ^ Ps. 22 : 14, 15. 

108 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

the lips move, and as the Son of God cries, 
" It is finished," '' He leaps into the " Ther- 
mopylae of man's moral destiny," meets the 
cost at an awful expense, but makes salvation 
free. Was not that an exhibition of unparal- 
leled love — a love stronger than death itself? 
Contemplate that crucified Christ a moment. 
Is not that sight enough to melt the hardest 
heart, and make the strongest weep? Blessed 
Jesus ! What love to wear a crown of thorns 
that we might wear a crown of glory; to bleed 
Thy life's blood that our sins might be washed 
away; to take our place and die that we might 
live. Wonderful, sublime love! 

" See from His head, His hands, His feet. 
Sorrow and love flow mingled down ! 
Did ere such love and sorrow meet, 
Or thorns compose so rich a crown? " 

The cross! in which our faith centers, from 
which poets, artists, and orators draw their 
inspiration, is '' the highest, the most com- 
plete, manifestation of the love of God." If 
" divine love in the incarnation appears like 

^^ John 19 : 30. 
109 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

the brilliant star the wise men saw in the east, 
the crucifixion, with all its indignities and 
agonies, appears like the sun ablaze, filling 
the universe with its matchless radiance." 
There, and there alone, was atonement made 
for the sins of the world. There, and there 
only, was man's substitute for sin. There " it 
pleased the Lord to bruise Him." ^^ There 
God " spared not His own Son " ^^ from pain 
and disgrace. There, He was " stricken, 
smitten of God, and afflicted." '' There '' the 
chastisement of our peace was upon Him." *"^ 
There He died, '' the Just for the unjust, that 
He might bring us to God." *^ There " he 
died," as Kingsley said, " because He was 
love, love itself, love boundless, unchange- 
able ; love which inhabits eternity, and there- 
fore could not be burdened by any sin or re- 
bellion of man ; " but loved man so much as 
" to give His life a ransom " for him. Dead! 
Think of it! Jesus dead! ''The hands that 
bestowed blessings upon the blind and hungry, 

^^ Isa. 53 : lo. '' Rom. 8 : 32. '' Isa. 53 : 4- 

*nsa. 53:5. *^ I Peter 3 : 18. 

I 10 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

dead! The tongue that uttered words that 
have become light for the ages, dead! He 
who wrested from death His prey, Himself 
dead!" Surely, if ever man escaped death, 
one would think Jesus should. But no, He 
died, and His death was not for friends only, 
but enemies; not for the righteous, but sin- 
ners. What love! 

" Which of all our friends, to save us, 
Could or would have shed his blood? 

But our Jesus died to have us 
Reconciled, in Him, to God ; 

This was boundless love indeed; 

Jesus is a friend in need." 

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THIS GIFT? 

What shall we do with this Gift? It is 
optional whether we accept or reject Him. 
We might advise ourselves as the daughter 
of paganism advised her husband: "Have 
thou nothing to do with that Just Man;"*^ 
or, like Paul, we may yield to the love of 
Christ, which constraineth us.*^ To reject it 

*=' Matt. 27: 19. *^ 2 Cor. 5:14. 

Ill 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

is to invite all the wrath of God to befall us. 
To accept it is to inherit the most sublime 
happiness heaven can bestow, to be emanci- 
pated from a life-long bondage, and to have 
conferred on us '' a life which is beyond 
the conditions or occasions of dissolution." 
Which shall it be? ''I have set before you," 
says God, ^' life and death, blessing and curs- 
ing: therefore choose life, that both thou and 
thy seed may live." ** 

Friend, what will you do? Does not His 
love awaken your love? Hear him say, ^' I 
have called you friends." *^ O, how much that 
expression means; for the word is derived 
from philos, meaning " lover " — '' I have 
called you lovers." How beautiful! We call 
a lover of wisdom a ^' philosopher," a lover 
of men a " philanthropist," but a thousand 
times better is it if you can be called a '' philo- 
christos," — a lover of Christ. Are you such? 

" To-day a pardoning God 

Will hear the suppliant pray; 
To-day a Saviour's cleansing blood 
Will wash thy guilt away." 
"Deut. 30:19. ^ John 15: 15. 

112 



VI 

THE LOVER'S PROVISO— '^ WHOSO- 
EVER BELIEVETH " 

Love is the lodestone of love. It is a mag- 
net by which many are unconsciously and in- 
voluntarily drawn. Nothing is so universal, 
so great, so strong. " It sings," as Campbell 
Morgan says, "in poetry, and forgets calcu- 
lation. It worships in abandonment, and 
oversteps arithmetic. It is a vestal flame of 
life," the bond of heaven, and the only true 
bond of earth. 

Love precedes love's gifts. The former is 
gratuitous; the latter are conditional. God 
loved before He made the world, loved be- 
fore He gave His Son to die for those in the 
world; but in this beautiful declaration of 
John three-sixteen, faith is the condition 
whereby this precious Gift may be received. 
On the correctness of one's belief in Christ 
depends his eternal salvation. 

8 113 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

After the battle of Pittsburg Landing, 
Dwight L. Moody visited the hospital by re- 
quest of a wounded soldier, who wanted the 
great evangelist to help him die. Mr. Moody 
said: " I would take you right up in my arms, 
and carry you into the kingdom of God if I 
could; but I can't do it: I can't help you to 
die." 

" Then who can? " asked the soldier. 

" The Lord Jesus Christ," Mr. Moody an- 
swered; " He it was who came to this world 
for that purpose." 

The soldier shook his head, and said, " He 
can't save me ; I have sinned all my life." 

" But He came to save sinners," Mr. 
Moody answered. Then he prayed with him, 
and read this third chapter of John. The 
eyes of the dying man were riveted on Mr. 
Moody till he came to the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth verses. ''As Moses lifted up the ser- 
pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have eternal 
life." 

114 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

" Is that there? " asked the soldier. 
" Does it read that whosoever believeth 
shall have life eternal? Read it again." 

Mr. Moody read it three times. The face 
of the soldier brightened, his faith took hold 
of Christ, and his dying appearance seemed 
to say: — 

" My faith looks up to Thee, 
Thou Lamb of Calvary, 

Saviour divine! 
Now hear me while I pray, 
Take all my guilt away ; 
O, let me from this day 
Be wholly Thine ! " 

BELIEF ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION 

While salvation is of Christ, belief on man's 
part is essential before the greatest gift of 
God is conferred. It is " the vital artery of 
the soul," through which flows a great desire, 
like that of David, who said, ^'As the hart 
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my 
soul after Thee, O God." ^ It is this desire 
that makes everything earthly unattractive, 

^ Ps. 42 : I. 

"5 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

and aids in the cultivation of that sublime 
faith whereby a soul can accept Christ — 
the Lover's Gift. 

Belief in Christ is necessary. So important 
is belief, that most of the chapters in John's 
Gospel contain the word, until he declares, 
'^ These are written, that ye might believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that 
believing ye might have life through His 
name." ^ 

Belief, what is it? The lexicographer, 
defining it from an intellectual view, says, 
^' The term may be used for full and unwaver- 
ing acceptance of anything as true; " but in 
Christian theology it is the acceptance of all 
that God has said and revealed in Jesus 
Christ, in a practical sense. John Wesley was 
once engaged in a very important conference 
with some of his leading associates. Faith, or 
belief, was the subject under discussion. 
None being able to furnish a satisfactory def- 
inition, Mr. Wesley said, " Let us call in Mrs. 
," naming a woman of strong sense 

- John 20 : 31. 

116 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

and very deep piety. " She can tell us just 
what it is to believe," continued Mr. Wesley, 
" because she conscientiously exercises it." 
When asked to define belief, she replied, " It 
is taking God at His word." That's it, — be- 
lieving what He says, and believing in the 
application of what He has said to us. Such 
belief is an active rather than a passive prin- 
ciple. 

One unhappy delusion of many persons is 
a treacherous disbelief when they profess to 
believe. A company of ladies visiting a man- 
ufactory were conducted into the laboratory. 
The chemist showed them a vessel containing 
a certain solution. He explained its proper- 
ties, and told them that by moistening the 
hand with it, molten lead could be taken up 
without pain or injury. He told them why 
it was that the hot lead could not burn flesh 
moistened with the solution. The visitors 
were greatly interested, and when asked by 
the professor if they believed him, declared 
they did. " Now," said he, " here is a caldron 
of molten lead. Who of you will handle it? " 

117 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Not one responded. They shrank back from 
the seething mass, whose heat could be felt 
several feet away. 

" You say you believe what I told you; just 
try it," he urged. 

Not one dared venture. Then he dipped his 
hand into the solution, and, plunging it into 
the lead, declared it did not harm him. But 
though they protested that they believed, they 
would not make the experiment themselves. 
They thought they believed; but it was not 
the belief that would try. Alas, there are 
many who believe in Jesus as a historic char- 
acter, as the Great Reformer, as the wonder- 
ful Miracle Worker, as the Saviour of the 
world ; but they have not believed in Him to 
test His power to save them. Reader, how 
believest thou? 

THE PERSON IN WHOM TO BELIEVE 

To take God at His Word must be consid- 
ered in a practical sense. Regarding the 
world. He says that it '' passeth away." ^ Of 

^ I John 2:17. 

118 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

the people in the world we read that " all we 
like sheep have gone astray." * Of one who 
loves the world, John declares, " The love of 
the Father is not in him." ^ Of sin we learn 
that it " bringeth forth death," ' but that 
Christ " is the propitiation [or atoning sac- 
rifice] for our sins." ^ Regarding life eternal, 
the blessed Saviour declared, '' This is life 
eternal, that they might know Thee the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast 
sent;"^ and the secret of knowing is given 
in John three-sixteen, — whosoever believeth 
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Believe in whom? — Jesus Christ, God's 
Son; Isaiah's "Lamb;"^ Haggai's "Desire 
of all Nations; " '' Pilate's " Just Person; " " 
Josephus's " Wise Man; " Porphyry's " Pious 
Man; " John Stuart Mills's " Guide of Hu- 
manity; " Robert Owens's "The Irreproach- 
able; " Leslie Stephens's " Ideal Man; there- 
fore King of men ; " and Edwin Arnold's — 



*Isa.53:6. 


^ I John 2:15. 


® James 1:15 


^ I John 2 : 2. 


® John 17: 3. 


'Isa. 53: 7. 


^° Haggai 2 : 7. 


" Matt. 27 : 24. 





119 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

" First-Born of Heaven, first soul of human souls, 
That touched the top of manhood, and from height 
Of Godlike, pure humanity, reached God." 

Such was the world's noble substitute and 
sacrifice for sin, — a substitute of flesh and 
blood, in which is wrapped up the admirable, 
divine love of God; yes, God Himself. To 
believe in Him is to know His transforming 
power. Such belief admits a radiance " amid 
the darkness of mortality, dispels the gloom 
that overspreads the mind, and dissipates the 
darkness that hovers around the pathway to 
immortality." 

"A bleeding Saviour, seen by faith, 

A sense of pardoning love ; 
A hope that triumphs over death, 
Gives joys like those above." 

When Munkacsy's great painting of 
" Christ before Pilate " was on exhibition in 
Toronto, a rude, rough sailor went to see it. 
He stood for a moment looking at the canvas 
as if he would glance at it and go away. But 
as he looked, he could not turn. He stood 
there with his eyes fixed upon that central 

1 20 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

figure of majesty and love. In a moment he 
took off his hat, and let it fall to the floor. He 
then picked up the book which described the 
picture, and began to read, ever and anon 
turning to the canvas, and toward the cen- 
tral figure. A woman, watching him, saw 
him lift his hand, and wipe away the tears. 
At last he arose, and coming softly and rev- 
erently toward the door, hesitating, to take 
the last look, said, " Madam, I am a rough, 
wicked sailor; I have never believed in 
Christ. I have never used the name except 
in an oath ; but I have a Christian mother, and 
she begged me to-day, before I went to sea, 
to go and look at the picture of Christ. To 
oblige her I came. I did not believe that any- 
body believed in Christ; but as I have looked 
on that form, I have thought that some man 
must believe in Him, and it has touched me, 
and I have come to believe in Him too." 

" Believe ! and the ' feeling ' may come or may go ; 
Believe in the Word that was written to show 
That all who believe, their salvation may know; 
Believe, and keep right on believing ! " 

121 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Ethan Allen, the New England infidel, 
was called to his dying daughter's side. 
" Papa," she said, '^ I am going to die. 
Mama says there is a Christ and a hereafter 
— if I trust Him. You say there is no here- 
after. I am dying, papa, and I must make 
my last decision now. Whom shall I be- 
lieve? Shall I accept mama's Christ, or your 
infidelity? " The great soldier's frame shook 
with emotion. He had just finished his fa- 
mous book called '' Reason, the Only Oracle 
of Man;" but turning from that, he said, 
" My darling, you would better die in your 
mother's faith, and not in my unbelief/' 
Why? — Because unbelief in Christ is dis- 
astrous and destructive, while belief on Him 
is comforting, elevating, purifying, and 
saving. 

WHO MAY BELIEVE? 

In making a will, special provision is made 
for sums of money or pieces of property to 
be given to certain persons. If not so desig- 
nated, much trouble might arise as to who 

122 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

would be the rightful heirs. All men being 
God's children by creation, all have the priv- 
ilege of inheriting " all things " ^^ through 
Christ, if they so desire. This is proved by 
the word ^^ whosoever I' which, as Richard 
Baxter declared, " is the most comforting 
word in the Bible." 

Divine love is all-embracing, including 
mankind of whatever color or rank, in what- 
ever longitude or latitude, and of whatever 
station in life. Frederick Douglass proved 
that Lincoln believed this when he said that 
he was the first white man he ever talked with 
who did not seem to think of the difference in 
color between them, or to be conscious of the 
fact that he was a negro. But eighteen hun- 
dred years before the colored man's friend, 
was One who loved Jew and Gentile, Greek 
and Roman, white and black, — One who was 
subjected to ridicule and hatred, yet won man- 
kind's affection by a love such as was never 
before or since exhibited. That one was 
Christ. 

" Rev. 21 : 7, 
123 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

The story runs that an illiterate stone- 
breaker was given a tract by a stranger. Dur- 
ing the meal hour he endeavored to read it, 
but was hindered by the word " whosoever." 
A boy passing was pressed into service, and 
asked to explain it. He spelled it out, 
— w-h-o- who, s-o- so, e-v-e-r- ever, whoso- 
ever. 

"What does it mean?" asked the man. 

" Indeed, I don't know," said the boy, " un- 
less it means you and me and everybody else." 

That's just what it does mean, thank God. 
"O Christ! take back my interest in Thy 
blood," prayed Charles Wesley, '' unless it 
flows for all the race." As the worst character 
of the Israelitish camp was healed as quickly 
as the most moral serpent-bitten one by look- 
ing at the brazen serpent, so the meanest, the 
vilest, of human wretches can be made pure 
if only penitent, and believing in Christ cru- 
cified. 

" Slain in the guilty sinner's stead. 
His spotless righteousness I plead, 
And His availing blood; 
124 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

That righteousness my robe shall be, 
That merit shall atone for me, 
And bring me near to God." 

George Hunnowell had been in prison 
thirty years. He never expected to leave it. 
The governor pardoned one prisoner every 
year. One New-year's day the prisoners were 
assembled, and the chaplain said, '' George 
Hunnowell, rise and receive the governor's 
pardon." The man did not move. The chap- 
lain went toward him, and looking at him, 
said, ''Will George rise?" The poor pris- 
oner cried out, " Is it I? Is it I? I thought 
it was some other George Hunnowell." 

When Henry Clay Trumbull was a pris- 
oner during the Civil War, an influential 
friend at Washington persuaded the Govern- 
ment to take an interest in him, and secure his 
release. One day it was rumored that one 
man out of the nine hundred was to be re- 
leased. Each said, " I wonder who it is? I 
hope it is I." In due time the officer came, 
and shouted at the top of his voice, " Henry 
Clay Trumbull, three paces forward!" No 

125 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

one moved. " Henry Clay Trumbull, three 

paces forward! " was repeated again. A man 

looked up the line, and seeing no one step for- 

^^^ward, stepped himself. 

* "Why did you hesitate?" inquired the 

(%r officer. 

' " Because I thought there might be another 

Henry Clay Trumbull," replied the pardoned 
soldier. 

But in John three-sixteen there is nothing 
said of Hunnowells or TrumbuUs. It reads 
" whosoever," and that carries more breadth 
and assurance than any earthly name. It 
shows no limitation with divine love, and no 
restriction in the divine offer. All can have 
a share, for Christ " gave Himself a ransom 
for all," ^^ and tasted death " for every 



man." ^' 



" Whosoever will," the promise is secure ; 
" Whosoever will," forever shall endure ; 
" Whosoever will," 'tis life for evermore ; 
" Whosoever will " may come. 
Tim. 2:6. " Heb. 2 : 9. 

126 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

INEXCUSABLENESS OF THOSE WHO PERISH 

Salvation is so plainly stated in the Bible 
that " the wayfaring men, though fools, shall 
not err therein." ^^ Its conditions are so easy 
that all may be saved ; but if any one will not 
meet them, Jesus has declared that he " shall 
be condemned," ^® and in stronger terms, he 
said, '' He that believeth not is condemned al- 
ready, because he hath not believed in the 
name of the only begotten Son of God." ^^ 

Condemned ! What a word ! There is none 
more terrible of meaning in the English lan- 
guage. "Put all the afflictions and miseries of 
the world," said Flavel, " into one scale, and 
this sentence of God into the other, and they 
will be lighter than a feather." It is the final 
sentence of God. From man's condemnation 
God may justify, but from God's condemna- 
tion no man can deliver. 

Unbelief is the sin of all sins, the occasion 
of all sins, and the soul-destroying sin. There 
is not another so execrable and abominable in 

. " Isa. 35:8. '' Mark 16 : 16, R. V. '' John 3 : 18. 

127 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

the sight of God. It reflects the greatest dis- 
honor upon Him, for it makes Him a liar. 
It darkens one's life, decreases one's happi- 
ness, and destroys one's soul. It is the " most 
common of all evils, the most specious of all 
evils, the most offensive of all evils, the most 
fatal of all evils," and, as Carlyle says, the 
" one thing without honor and smitten with 
eternal barrenness." Through unbelief Adam 
and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and suffered, 
the murmuring Israelites were kept out of 
Canaan, the Samaritan lord perished at the 
gate of Samaria, Zacharias was smitten with 
dumbness, and Thomas with shame. Jesus 
goes so far as to say to the unbelieving sinner, 
" If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die 
in your sins." ^^ And again, he " shall not see 
life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." ^^ 
The fact of unbelief and its reward remain 
the same. God's wrath is written upon the 
heart, as the handwriting of Belshazzar's 
doom was written upon the wall. Listen to 
what God says through Isaiah : '' If ye will 

^« John 8 : 24. ^' John 3 : 36. 

128 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

not believe, surely ye shall not be estab- 
lished." ^^ Paul declares that those who be- 
lieve not, shall not "enter into His rest;"^^ 
and John states that unbelievers '' shall have 
their part in the lake which burneth with fire 
and brimstone." ^' Awful thought! Terrible 
outlook for the unbelieving sinner! 

" Hush," you say, '' that is too broad an as- 
sertion." What! Going too far when God 
says so? Is the physician going too far when 
he tells the poisoned patient that unless he 
takes the remedy, he will die? Or the fireman 
when he says, " Let me lower you from this 
window, or you will perish in the fla'mes"? 
Or the sailor who urges, " Let me put this life- 
buoy about you, or you will sink " ? — No, no ! 
we discern the truth, and are ready to meet the 
conditions. 

Is God^s truth less? To believe is to be free 
from condemnation, and to be " justified from 
all things." ^^ But to believe not is to be an- 
noyed by conscience in this life, and to hear 

=^Isa. 7:9. =^Heb. 3:19. "Rev. 21:8. 

-* Acts 13 : 39- 

9 129 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

Christ say, in the Judgment, " Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the devil and his angels." ^* 

A bookkeeper handed his employer a sheet, 
saying, " The trial-balance, sir." The mer- 
chant had dreaded to know the truth, but it 
was even worse than he feared. His frame 
shook, and his heart fainted under the revela- 
tion. He fell into a dangerous fever, and in 
his delirium kept repeating: "The trial-bal- 
ance, the trial-balance." At length he began 
to mend. His mind turned from his accounts 
with men to his standing with God. His con- 
science condemned him, and he declared his 
trial-balance with God to be in a worse con- 
dition. " I know it," said he ; " O, shall I 
be an everlasting bankrupt? " The thought 
troubled him. He pleaded for God's love, be- 
lieved on Jesus, and the Holy Spirit changed 
the man's fear to an assurance of hope, his 
groans to praise, and his prospects of perdition 
to the hope of heaven. So Christ will change 
yours, dear friend, if you will let Him. In 

** Matt. 2S : 41. 
130 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

the language of faith cry aloud, " Lord, I be- 
lieve!'"' Do this, and you will be saved. 
Neglect it, and, alas, your doom is sealed. 

" There is a line by us unseen, 
That crosses every path, — 
The hidden boundary between 
God's patience and His wrath. 

" How far may we go on in sin ? 
How long will God forbear ? 
Where does hope end ? And where begin 
The confines of despair? 

" An answer from the skies is sent : 
' Ye that from God depart, 
While it is called to-day, repent, 
And harden not your heart/ " 

*" Mark 9 : 24. 



131 



VII 

THE LOVER'S PURPOSE—" SHOULD 
NOT PERISH " 

Love is a means to an end. Its influence 
is magical, its power transforming. Discour- 
agements are by it quickly dispelled, like 
mists before the morning sun. On the face 
of the frowning sky, love spreads a rainbow 
of hope. There is not a fire too hot, a prison 
too strong, a mountain too high, an ocean too 
wide, nor an undertaking too perilous, to re- 
strain it. 

"Love will find its way 

Through paths where wolves would fear to prey." 

Everything the eye can see, the ear hear, 
the tongue taste, and the hands feel, has a pur- 
pose, whether we discern it or not. There is 
a divine wisdom in all things, and " every 
purpose is established by counsel." ^ Many 
a seeming catastrophe has proved a bene- 
diction in disguise. Behind the dark 

^ Prov. 20 : i8. 
132 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

clouds of human events is the silvery 
lining of Providence. The death-knell of 
Waterloo was the peace-chime of Europe. 
The arrest of Oliver Cromwell for debt 
as he was seeking passage to America, was 
the restraining hand to make him Eng- 
land's deliverer. The breaking of Bernard 
Gilpin's leg on his way to London, saved him 
from a martyr's fire. The changing of chairs 
saved the life of John Knox from the evil 
purpose of a would-be-murderer, who, not- 
ing the particular spot where Knox was accus- 
tomed to sit, sent a bullet through the window. 
Taking a dififerent road to church saved How- 
ard, the philanthropist, from assassination by 
a man whom he had reproved for dissolute 
habits. The missing of a Boston train by 
Amanda Smith, and the breaking of her en- 
gagement at an important meeting, preserved 
her life, while the train dashed to ruin. 

Were these incidents the result of m.ere 
chance? — Nay, no more than God's sending 
Christ was chance, no more than Christ's 
suffering and death were chance. " For this 

133 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

purpose the Son of God was manifested," ^ 
that love, at the greatest sacrifice, should 
save the human family from the greatest 
calamity, thereby extending to them the 
greatest blessing conferred by God, — salva- 
tion from perishing, and life eternal, " ac- 
cording to the eternal purpose which he pur- 
posed in Christ Jesus our Lord." ^ 

MAN IN A PERISHING CONDITION 

Doubtless the most calamitous word of 
John three-sixteen is " perish." But, as a 
dark background sets off a light picture, so 
the sadness, misfortune, peril, and death con- 
nected with this word aid in beautifying the 
contrast, — life, eternal life. 

Every non-Christian member of the human 
family is in a perishing condition, whether 
he realizes it or not. Because the sleeper was 
unconscious of escaping gas, and singing 
Evangelist Bliss uninformed of the washout 
of Ashtabula Bridge, is that to say they were 
not in a perishing condition? Because one 

=^ I John 3: 8. 'Eph. 3:11. 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

has health, home, means, title, friends, do 
these things make his condition spiritually 
any better? — Nay, for the Bible teaches, and 
daily evidence proves, that in the midst of 
life, man is in death. It — 

" Rides on every passing breeze 
And lurks in every flower." 

Did all unconverted realize this, then would 
the cry be raised, ^'Lord, save us: we perish."* 
And the prayer of each would be — 

" Master, with anguish of spirit 

I bow in my grief to-day ; 
The depths of my sad heart are troubled ; 

O, waken and save, I pray ! 
Torrents of sin and of anguish 

Sweep o'er my sinking soul ; 
And I perish ! I perish ! dear Master ; 

O hasten, and take control." 

It is a good thing to realize this condition, 
for it arouses to action. It will man the life- 
boat, climb the fireman's ladder, fight wild 
'beasts, go on half rations, strain every nerve, 
conquer every difficulty. 

* Matt. 8 : 25. 

135 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

When the elder Dionysius was ruler of 
Syracuse, there was at his court a flatterer 
called Damocles, who lived by fawning on 
royalty. Cicero tells how one day while this 
parasite was extolling the greatness of the 
tyrant, and congratulating him upon the 
possession of so much wealth and happiness, 
Dionysius proposed that Damocles taste the 
sweets of power in place of himself for a 
while. So the courtier was seated at a mag- 
nificent banquet, with everything that could 
please and delight. Happening to glance up 
at the ceiling, he beheld a naked sword sus- 
pended above him by a single horse-hair. 
That very moment his pleasure vanished. So 
would the pleasure of the drunkard with his 
cup, the miser with his gold, the proud-spir- 
ited with his dress, the giddy with his frivo- 
lous diversions, the sinner with his views and 
actions, if he could but see the sword of justice 
above him, held by Infinite Love. 

To perish, in the sense of John three-six- 
teen, means more than the prodigal meant 
when he said, " I perish with hunger; " ^ more 

^ Luke 15 : 17. 
136 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

than the mariners meant when they said to 
Jonah, ''Arise, call upon thy God, if so be 
that God will think upon us, that we perish 
not; " ^ more than the death suffered by mil- 
lions who have perished by famine, pestilence, 
earthquake, storm, or the weapons of warfare. 

Paul speaks of it as separation from God 
here and hereafter. '' Who," said he, " shall 
be punished with everlasting destruction from 
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 
of His power." ^ What a sad isolation! John, 
in the twentieth chapter of Revelation and 
the fifteenth verse, writes : '' Whosoever was 
not found written in the book of life was 
cast into the lake of fire." What a pitiful per- 
ishing scene is that! Jesus says of those who 
care not for Him and His people, "And these 
shall go away into everlasting punishment." ^ 
Are they not in a perishing condition when 
that sentence is pronounced? 

God grant, reader, that you may not suffer 
the pangs of either. Too many, alas! perish 
at the threshold of salvation. A few years ago 

® Jonah I : i6. ^2 Thess. 1:9. ® Matt. 25 : 46. 

137 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

a Mr. Breedlove and his son, with Mr. Fish, 
a young man of wealth, perished on the Col- 
orado Desert eighty miles west of Yuma. 
The position and condition of the bodies 
plainly told the cause of their death. The 
supply of water was exhausted. The elder 
Breedlove knew that at the base of Cocopali 
Mountain was a spring that never failed. The 
three men mounted their mules and started 
for this spring. The sun shone with intense 
heat, and the atmosphere was stifling. Soon 
Mr. Fish dropped from his mule, and as no 
assistance could be rendered him, the Breed- 
loves hastened onward. The animals gave 
out, and were given their liberty. About 
three miles from the spring, young Breedlove 
dropped on the burning sand. Imagine the 
feelings of that father as he left his son, to seek 
the life-preserving liquid. His steady step 
showed determination, but a mile from the 
mountain he stumbled. When only a quarter 
of a mile from the spring, he had fallen, and 
the mark of the canteen on the ground showed 
that it had dropped from his hand. He must 

138 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

have risen with difficulty, and struggled on a 
little farther; but when found by the search- 
ing party, he was lying, face downward, 
within two hundred yards of the spring. Al- 
most to the spring, yet perished! 

The " Royal Charter " had sailed around 
the world, and was homeward bound. Arriv- 
ing at Queenstown, a message was received 
that she would be at her dock in Liverpool 
the next morning. The Lord Mayor of Liv- 
erpool, with a band of musicians and thou- 
sands of people, waited to give her welcome 
home. But the " Royal Charter " went down 
in the night between Queenstown and Liver- 
pool, with almost all on board. The wife of 
the first mate was a member of Dr. William 
M. Taylor's church in Liverpool, and he was 
delegated to convey the news to her. On ring- 
ing the door-bell, a bright-faced, sunny- 
haired little girl answered, and, seeing who 
it was, said: "O Dr. Taylor! I thought it 
was my papa. He is coming home to-day! " 
On stepping into the house. Dr. Taylor found 
the breakfast-table spread in the sitting-room, 

139 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

and the wife dressed to receive her husband. 
"You must excuse us," she said, for having 
the table here at this hour, but you know my 
husband is coming home to-day; and if you 
will stay, it will make the day like heaven." 
Taking both her hands in his. Dr. Taylor 
said, " My poor woman, the ^ Royal Charter ' 
went down last night, and your husband was 
lost, and can never come home again." She 
looked at him an instant; then, drawing her 
hands from his, shrieked: "O my God! so 
near home, and yet lost! " 

The analogy is true spiritually. Hundreds, 
like the young ruler,^ are near the kingdom, 
and are loved as he was by Jesus, but perish 
rather than obey Him. They get a glimpse 
of the promised land, but never enter. Like 
Felix, they are " almost " ^^ persuaded, but 
perish. Is that your condition? If it is, lay 
down this book, fall upon your knees, and be- 
seech God for Christ's sake to save you from 
that death of all deaths, when lost souls will 
cry out, " The harvest is past, the summer is 
ended, and we are not saved." " 

"""« Mark I o : 2 1 . ^° Acts 26:28. " Jer. 8:20. 

140 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

THE lover's desire TO SAVE THE PERISHING 

God being love, He desires to save all from 
perishing. "As I live," says God, '' I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but 
that the wicked turn from his way and live." ^^ 

"While God invites, how blest the day! 
How sweet the gospel's charming sound ! 
Come, sinner, haste, O haste away. 
While yet a pardoning God is found." 

There are many things from which there 
is no such emphatic assurance of deliverance. 
God has not promised to save from all misfor- 
tunes, for they are incident to human life, and 
can not be repelled by fortitude, awed by 
greatness, or escaped by flight. Nor has He 
promised to save from every trouble, for 
" man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly 
upward." ^^ And '^ there is a sin unto death," 
of which John says : " I do not say that he 
shall pray for it." ^* But from perishing, — 
this awful perishing of the soul, — Christ has 
agreed to deliver if man will meet the condi- 

" Ezek. 33 : II. " Job 5:7. " i John 5 : 16. 

141 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

tion, and that condition is faith in His power 
to rescue. 

A company of women and children were 
standing upon the wharf of a fashionable 
watering-place awaiting a steamer, on which 
were their husbands and fathers, when a 
splash was heard, and the next moment re- 
vealed a young man struggling in the water. 
He could not swim, and in his frantic efforts 
to rescue himself, drifted into deeper water 
and farther from shore. The women looked 
for assistance. They found only one person 
who could render it — an old sailor, standing 
by motionless, and watching the poor man 
drown. They appealed to him in vain. As 
the young man arose the first time, a look of 
horror came over the little company, who 
were to be unwilling witnesses of his death. 
When all hope was gone, the brave sailor 
leaped into the water, and, as the youth rose 
for the last time, seized him, and bore him 
safely to shore. As the women gathered 
around him, he said, " I was compelled to 
wait until he had ceased trying to save him- 

142 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

self; for I could save him only when he was 
without strength." 

The same is true with Jesus. So long as 
unregenerate man endeavors to save himself, 
he can not be saved. He may resort to relig- 
ious forms and ceremonies, like the Pharisees, 
whom Jesus called hypocrites and ^' whited 
sepulchres." ^^ He may engage in deeds of 
mercy and acts of charity; but, like sinking 
Peter, he must stop his struggling, and, rely- 
ing on Christ's power and love to save, cry: — 

"Author of faith, to Thee I lift 
My weary, longing eyes; 
O may I now receive that gift ! 
My soul without it dies." 

Faith in the Atonement 

This faith is not alone in the Lover's Gift, 
but in the work of that Gift. No man did 
so much for universal man. Demosthenes 
stirred the Athenians with matchless oratory, 
but " never man spake like this man." ^'^ 
Phidias charmed them with the magic of his 

« Matt. 22 : 27. " John 7 : 46. 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

chisel, as he carved life-like figures from 
shapeless blocks of marble ; but Christ by His 
miraculous art caused the people to exclaim: 
" Whence hath this man this wisdom, and 
these mighty works? " ^^ Apelles stirred their 
emotions by the exquisiteness of his brush, 
but Christ stirred the whole world by the 
power of His limitless love. It is a love 
that shines like a twinkling star in His incar- 
nation, yet more like a brilliant sun in His 
propitiation for sin, when as '' daysman," 
" mediator," and " surety," " charged with 
the arbitrament of the great controversy ex- 
isting between God and man," He made an 
atonement on the cross whereby the govern- 
ment of God might be vindicated, sinners 
justified, saved, reconciled to God, and per- 
mitted to enter '^ into the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus." '' 

" Yes, the Redeemer left His throne. 
His radiant throne on high ; 
Surprising mercy! love unknown! 
To suffer, bleed, and die. 

"Matt. 13:54. ^^Heb. 10:19. 

144 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

" He took the dying traitor's place, 
And suffered in his stead ; 
For sinful man, — O wondrous grace ! — 
For sinful man He bled. 

" O Lord ! what heavenly wonders dwell 
In Thy atoning blood ! 
By this are sinners saved from hell. 
And rebels brought to God." 

The atonement, or as Dr. W. G. Moore- 
head calls it, the " at-one-ment," whereby 
God and man are reconciled, is the greatest 
manifestation of divine love, which ^' pours 
a glory over all the attributes of God." 
Viewed from the standpoint of human re- 
demption, we see the Lover's Gift in a new 
light. He it was who " was made sin for 
us," ^^ " bore our sins," '' " died for our 
sins," ^^ gave His life " a ransom for many," ^^ 
through whom we have " remission of sins," ^^ 
and whose '' blood cleanseth us from all 



sin." '' 



Is this not wonderful? To think that God's 
only begotten Son would be willing to be 



2 Cor. 5 : 21. 


^ I Peter 2 : 24. 


^-^i Cor. 15: 3. 


-- Mark 10 : 45. 


2^ Acts 2 : 38. 


2*1 John 1:7. 


10 


TAC 





THE LOVER'S LOVE 

" stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted," '' 
for us! What nobleness of character! O my 
soul! contemplate it a moment! Unfold the 
anatomy of His heart's anguish, or analyze 
the chemistry of its bruised emotions, if thou 
canst. Stand and gaze upon thy Beloved. 
What suffering! What tearing of impaled 
nerves, muscles, and tendons of hands and 
feet! What lines of blood on His noble brow 
and agonized face! What torture of wounds 
by unrepelled flies! What fevered lips and 
parched tongue, sending sick convulsions to 
the heart and dizziness to the brain! And 
was this for me, a sinner? " Stupendous 
miracle of moral legislation " to save my soul, 
inspire my faith, temper my fears, fill my 
heart with humility, peace, and love, and 
tune my lips to sing the psalms of praise! 

" 'Tis love! 'tis love! Thou diedst for me! 

I hear Thy whisper in my heart ; 
The morning breaks, the shadows flee ; 

Pure, universal love Thou art; 
To me, to all. Thy mercies m.ove ; 

Thy nature and Thy name is Love ! " 

=« Isa. 53 : 4- 

146 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

AN EMPHATIC UTTERANCE 

The eagerness of the Lover and the Lover's 
Gift are so emphatic that " v^hosoever believ- 
eth in Him should not perish." His pov^er 
to save is equal to His purpose, if sinful 
beings will only confess their perishing con- 
dition, and exercise faith in Him who is 
^'mighty to save;'"® for "with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation." ^^ Blessed 
is he who with Charles Wesley will confess 
and pray, — 

" I have long withstood His grace, 
Long provoked Him to His face ; 
Would not hear His gracious calls, 
Grieved Him by a thousand falls. 

" Now incline me to repent ; 
Let me now my fall lament ; 
Deeply my revolt deplore ; 
Weep, believe, and sin no more." 

When Alexander of Russia visited Napo- 
leon at Toulon, the French emperor gave his 
illustrious visitor the privilege of liberating 

^Isa. 63:1. "Rom. 10:10. 

147 



^r^' 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

one convict among the galleys. Speaking to 
one whose intelligent look aroused his curi- 
osity, he asked for what crime he suffered. 
In reply the convict told a long story of in- 
nocence, and how he was imprisoned by the 
testimony of false witnesses. To another, and 
another, and still another the prince went, 
only to learn that they had been unjustly con- 
demned. At length he found a man whose 
countenance was sad. Inquiring into the 
cause of his punishment, the man replied: 
" I have been a vile wretch, and have de- 
served far more than my present punishment. 
I have set at open defiance the laws both of 
God and men, and am not fit to look upon the 
blue heavens or the green earth." The Rus- 
sian monarch, pleased with this confession, 
said to his attendants: " Set this man free; he 
is in a fit state of mind to make a proper use 
of liberty." Turning to the convict, he said, 
" Go, use your liberty for God's honor, to 
whose clemency you owe it." 

Such a confession is proof that one realizes 
his condition. The galley-slave never once 

148 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

thought that it would open to him the door 
of liberty; but the poor, perishing sinner may 
know, for Jesus has emphatically declared 
that if he will believe in His power and love 
to liberate from sin, he ''should not'' perish. 
And on this ^^ should not," God the Father, 
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have 
set their seal. The Father — for our Saviour 
said, '^ My Father, which gave them Me, is 
greater than all; and no man is able to 
pluck them out of My Father's hand." '^ 
The Son — " Should not perish." The Holy 
Spirit — "Whereby ye are sealed unto the 
day of redemption." ^^ Do you believe these 
declarations? While the assertions and prom- 
ises of men may be mistrusted, you can de- 
pend on the word of these three, — the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, — for when the 
heavens and earth pass away, their words will 
still remain. 

God grant you will show appreciation by 
believing the strong assertion of Jesus, thus 
meeting the condition. Then will you have 

^ 'Solan 10 \2g. ^^ Eph. 4 : 30. 

149 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

a taste of David's feeling when he was res- 
cued : " He brought me up also out of an 
horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my 
feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 
And He hath put a new song in my mouth, 
even praise unto our God." '^ Stretch forth 
thy hands of faith, O unconverted soul! and 
thou shalt not perish. Make haste to be 
saved, as did some of the passengers when the 
packet-ship " Stephen Whitney " struck a 
rock on the coast of Ireland; for those that 
leaped instantly were saved, while those who 
hesitated were lost by the returning wave 
which carried the ship to doom. Thou 
wouldst be saved; why not now? If you will, 
Christ will be a Saviour; if you will not, 
He is your Judge. 

A number of years ago a judge heard loud 
cries in the street, and, rushing to the door 
of his home, saw a horse dashing up the 
avenue with the carriage swerving right and 
left. He ran out, and as the frightened ani- 
mal came up, he grasped the reins, and with 

^ Ps. 40 : 2, 3. 

150 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

no little risk and exertion saved the life of 
the coachman within. Months passed. Court 
was in session, and he was in the judge's seat. 
A trial had just ended, and a man had been 
found guilty of murder in the first degree. 
When asked if he had reason why sentence 
should not be passed upon him, he replied: 
"Judge, don't you know me? Don't you 
know me? I am the coachman you saved in 
that runaway." The magistrate looked sadly 
at him a moment, as he recalled the incident, 
and then said, "Ah! I was your saviour then; 
I am your judge now." 

To reject Christ the Saviour now is to 
have Him our Judge by and by. To accept 
Him as our present Saviour is to have Him 
our Saviour in the day of judgment. 

" Cast thy guilty soul on Him, 
Find Him mighty to redeem; 
At His feet thy burden lay, 
Look thy doubt and fears away; 
Now by faith the Son embrace, 
Plead His promise, trust His grace." 



151 



VIII 

THE LOVER'S PLEDGE— "HAVE 
EVERLASTING LIFE" 

Difficult as it is properly to define love, 
yet easily and gracefully will love enter into 
covenant with the object of its affection. It 
will unhesitatingly pledge, if there is the 
slightest possibility to perform. Friend 
pledges love to friend, lover, to lover, and 
before the bridal altar, bride and groom sol- 
emnly plight their love to each other. In all 
its dealings, love '' delights in endearments, 
in avowals of love." 

When Damon was sentenced to death by 
Dionysius the tyrant, he was given the priv- 
ilege of visiting his wife and children on 
condition that he would secure a hostage to 
take his place, and die in his stead in case 
he failed to return at the appointed time. 
Pythias consented, and Damon pledged his 
honor to be on hand at the time specified. 

152 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

While Pythias was in prison, the king visited 
and conversed with him about the motive that 
induced him to run this great risk. To the 
surprise of the king, Pythias expressed his 
wish to die, that the honor of Damon might 
be vindicated. He even prayed that the re- 
turn of Damon might be prevented until after 
the execution. The fatal day arrived, the 
crowd had gathered, and Dionysius himself 
was present. 

Pythias mounted the scaffold, and calmly 
addressed the multitude. He said: "My 
prayer is answered; for the winds have been 
contrary until yesterday. Damon, my friend, 
could not come. He could not conquer im- 
possibilities. He will be here to-morrow, 
and the blood which is shed to-day shall have 
ransomed his life. Oh, could I erase from 
your bosoms every mean suspicion of the 
honor of Damon, I should go to my death as 
to my bridal. My friend will be found 
noble; his truth will be found unimpeach- 
able. He is now on his way, accusing him- 
self and the adverse elements, but I haste to 

153 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

prevent his speed. Executioner, do your 
office." 

As he closed his speech, a man was seen in 
the distance on a rapidly running horse, and 
as he approached the crowd, he sent his shrill 
voice over the multitude of heads, saying, 
" Stop the execution ! " He dismounted 
speedily, hastened to the side of Pythias, and, 
embracing him, said, " You are free, my be- 
loved friend. I now have nothing but death 
to suffer, and am delivered from reproaches 
for having endangered a life so much dearer 
than my own." Pythias heard him, and said, 
" Fatal haste! Cruel impatience! What en- 
vious powers have wrought impossibilities in 
your favor? But I will not be wholly dis- 
appointed. Since I can not die to save you, 
I will not survive you." 

As the king saw and heard, he was moved 
to tears. Ascending the scaffold, he cried, 
" Live, live, ye incomparable pair! Ye have 
borne unquestionable testimony to the exist- 
ence of virtue. Live happy, live renowned." 
And, instead of an execution, there was a 
jubilation. Love conquered, and love's 

154 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

pledge, sacredly given, was sacredly kept. 

God loved and pledged. He loved when 
man sinned, and pledged that the Seed of the 
woman should bruise the serpent's head. 
Christ loved and pledged. He loved a world 
of sinners lost, and loving them " unto the 
end," ^ pledged that " whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." Such a pledge is binding. Yes, 
when the beautiful sky with its glowing fires 
shall roll up like a scroll, and the earth with 
its snow-capped mountains, carpeted prairies, 
gorgeous cities, and placid rivers shall melt 
and burn with fervent heat, this pledge will 
still remain in force. Jesus, who is " the 
life," ^ and who brought " life and immor- 
tality to light," ^ will substantiate His pledge. 

" To love abundantly," said Drummond, 
"is to live abundantly; and to love forever 
is to live forever. Hence eternal life is inex- 
tricably bound up with love." In briefer 
words, love is life, life is God, '^ God is 
love." ' 

^Johni3:i. ^John 11:25. ^2 Tim. 1:10. 

* I John 4 : 8. 

155 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

EVERLASTING LIFE 

The pledge of John three-sixteen is that of 
life; in fact, the whole Bible is a message of 
life. In the Old and New Testaments the 
word " life " occurs four hundred times, and 
is mentioned in fifty-three of the sixty-six 
books. It is the " tree of life " ^ in Genesis; 
the " path of life " ' in the Psalms ; the '' word 
of life " ^ in John's Gospel ; the " river of 
water of life," ^ " a crown of life," ^ and the 
" Lamb's book of life," '' in Revelation. 

Nothing is more valued and precious than 
life. Satan uttered a truth when he said, 
"All that a man hath will he give for his 
life." ^^ Money, lands, even a part of his body, 
will one sacrifice for the extension and en- 
joyment of life. 

Our lives, however, like Adam's, are cir- 
cumscribed by the circle of a few years. The 
cradle and the tomb are only a span apart. 
No sooner does man begin to live than he be- 
gins to die. He is like the — 

^ Gen. 2:9. ^ Ps. 16 : 1 1. ^ John 6 : 63. 

^ Rev. 22 : I. ^ Rev. 2 : 10. ^" Rev. 21 : 2y. 

" Job 2:4. 

156 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

..." summer rose, 
That opens to the morning sky, 
But ere the shades of evening close. 
Is scattered on the ground — to die." 

Like Paul, however, we may have the con- 
solation of a life " hid with Christ in God," ^' 
so that this transitory life of earth merges 
into the eternal life of the undying Christ; 
for '^ this is the promise that He hath prom- 
ised us, even eternal life." ^^ And again, 
from the lips of Jesus: "I will give unto 
them eternal life." '* 

Note this word ^' eternal." A child may 
speak it, but even an angel's mind can not 
comprehend it. Its years are beyond compu- 
tation. There is no figure by which we can 
grasp its duration. ''AH time, all history, all 
past cycles and ages, from the song of the 
morning stars till now, is but a dream when 
one awaketh," compared to that period which 
is God's lifetime, and through which all who 
believe in Christ shall live and love. 

Over the doors of the Milan Cathedral are 

" Col. 3:3. " I John 2 : 25. " John 10 : 28. 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

three inscriptions. The first reads : "All that 
which pleases us is but for a moment." The 
second is: "All that which troubles us is but 
for a moment." The third, over the great 
central arch, reads : " That only is important 
which is eternal." Blessed thought! "As our 
Lord pours out such noble gifts upon us in 
this life," said Luther, " how glorious will 
be eternal life!" It represents the greatest 
good forever, — activity and intelligence, in- 
tensity and aggression, an unending peace, 
a never-failing love. 

Years ago a young woman left her wid- 
owed mother in the country, to obtain em- 
ployment in a distant city. The mother 
grieved, for the girl went among strangers, 
and was surrounded by many temptations. 
For a time her letters were long and affection- 
ate, but they grew shorter and shorter, and at 
last ceased. Word came to the mother that 
her child had left the path of virtue. She 
went to the city, but after days of fruitless 
search was about to return home in despair, 
when a new thought came. She had her 

158 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

photograph taken, and went to the principal 
saloons and places of resort, and asked them 
to hang the picture on the walls. The strange 
request was granted, and she went home with 
the prayer that Mary would see her mother's 
picture. One day the girl's attention was at- 
tracted by the likeness. She said, '' That 
looks like my mother." She went nearer. 
" It is my mother," she said. Examining the 
picture, she noticed underneath, in the fa- 
miliar handwriting, the words, " Mary, I 
love you still." These words rang in her ears 
and echoed in her soul. By them her life was 
transformed, and she began to love in return, 
and in the loving to live for time and for eter- 
nity. So Jesus loved, Jesus sought, Jesus 
spoke ; and millions have turned to Him, and 
said, " Lord, ... Thou hast the words of 
eternal life."" 

" Eternal life Thy words impart ; 

On these my fainting spirit lives ; 
Here sweeter comforts cheer my heart 
Than all the sound of nature gives." 

" John 6 : 68. 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

THIS LIFE IS A GIFT 

John three-sixteen might well be entitled 
the " love text," as it enshrines the greatest 
attribute of Jehovah, which is infinite in its 
range. In every word beats the great heart 
of God. In every thought shines the holy 
face of Jesus; and as an evidence of this, 
promises and gifts unfold their treasures as 
an incentive to holy living. 

God gave Jesus, Jesus gave His all, and in 
the giving He gives a fulness of life. " The 
gift of God," said Paul, '' is eternal life." ^' 
" I am come," said Jesus, " that they might 
have life, and that they might have it more 
abundantly." ^^ And, " this is the record, that 
God hath given to us eternal life, and this 
life is in His Son."'' "Hath given;" not will, 
or may, but hath. It is a gift not in contem- 
plation, but in possession, — a gift of eternal 
existence and eternal happiness already be- 
gun. " Because I live," said Jesus, " ye shall 
live also." " Pilgrims of earth, but citizens 

^* Rom. 6:23. ^' John 10: 10. "i John 5: 11. 

"John 14 : 19. 

160 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

of heaven. In the world, but not of the 
world. Subject to the cold of its icy winter, 
the heat of its burning summer, assaulted by 
the blows of adversity, and assailed by the 
venomous shafts of the devil, yet all helpless 
to affect the life that we now live, which is 
the life of God. 

THIS GIFT IS ONLY THROUGH GOD'S GREAT 

GIFT 

Everlasting life being a gift, it is only 
through God's ''unspeakable Gift"'' that 
we can receive it. '' The gift of God is eter- 
nal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." ^^ 
" God hath given to us eternal life, and this 
life is in His Son." '' '' I live," said Paul, 
" yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." '' How- 
ever bewildering it may seem, that the Chris- 
tian's life is in Christ, and Christ's life is in 
the Christian, yet it is as plain as the branch 
living in the tree, and the tree living in the 
branch. When Christ lives in the Christian, 
it is '' because He hath given us of His 

''>2Cor. 9: 15. "^Rom.e-.zs. "i John 5: 11. 

^ Gal. 2 : 20. 

161 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

spirit; " ^* when the Christian lives in Christ, 
it is because he '^ believes on His name." ^^ 
When Christ lives in the Christian, it is be- 
cause '^ the body is dead because of sin ; but 
the spirit is life because of righteousness." ^® 
When the Christian lives in Christ, it is be- 
cause he ^' has been planted in the likeness of 
His death," and shall be also " in the like- 
ness of His resurrection." ^^ Christ in the 
Christian implies that He is " our life; " the 
Christian in Christ implies ^' wisdom, and 
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp- 
tion." ^^ Christ in the Christian is a surety 
that he has been '^ made nigh by the blood of 
Christ,"^'' that he is an heir of God, and joint- 
heir with Jesus Christ; '"^ the Christian in 
Christ will so live that men shall see his good 
works, and glorify his Father who is in 
heaven. ^^ 

Life is hidden. We see its result, but not 
its force. The piston-rod moves in and out 
in the cylinder, and by that movement turns 



I John 4 : 13. 


'' John 1:12. 


^Rom. 8: 10. 


Rom. 6 : 5. 


^ I Cor. I : 30. 


2« Eph. 2 : 13. 


Rom. 8 : 17. 


'' Matt. 5 : 16. 





162 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

the drive-wheels of the locomotive, but its 
steam-life is hidden. The grain of wheat, 
hard and to all appearance worthless, is com- 
mitted to the soil. By and by up shoots a 
stalk, then an ear, then golden grains in the 
ear; but its growing life is concealed. The 
heart throbs, the pulse beats, the lungs ex- 
pand, the limbs move, the frame shakes; but 
the dominating, controlling life-power is un- 
seen. We note the Christian, his looks, his 
actions, and, marveling at his measure of love 
in a world of evil, we say, " How like Christ 
is he." Why? — Because, as Paul says, his 
" life is hid with Christ in God." '' 

In the second century a martyr was brought 
before a king, who wanted him to recant, 
and give up Christ and Christianity. The 
king said, " If you do it not, I shall banish 
you." 

The man smiled, and answered, " You can 
not banish me from Christ, for He says that 
He will never leave me nor forsake me." 

The king became angry, and said, " Well, 

'' Col. 3 : 3. 
163 



THE LOVER^S LOVE 

I will confiscate your property, and take it 
all from you." 

The man replied, '' My treasures are laid 
up on high ; you can not get them." 

The king became still more angry, and said, 
" I will kill you." 

'' Why," the man answered, '' I have been 
dead forty years; I have been dead with 
Christ; dead to the world; my life is hid with 
Christ in God, and you can not touch it." 

Sublime thought! Christ being the source 
of the Christian life, it makes him secure. 
Christ having revealed only part of His glory 
here, our life in Him will not be manifested 
in all its grandeur till we dwell with Him in 
heaven. " Only the dull bud is seen as yet," 
said one; "by and by the flower will burst 
into rich bloom. No artist ever puts on can- 
vas all the beaut}^ of his vision. No singer 
ever puts into song all the music of his soul. 
No Christian ever translates into disposition 
and conduct all the spiritual loveliness that 
shows in his ideal." 

A short time before the death of Louis the 
164 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Thirteenth, his young son, five years of age, 
was brought to his bedside. " What is your 
name? " asked the languid monarch. 

*' Louis the Fourteenth," replied the boy^ 
who had early learned the secret of his dig- 
nity. 

'' Not yet, not yet! " observed his sire. 

The boy was but a child, a son, but he was 
also heir, and, as the bud comes to perfection 
in the blooming flower, and the half-seen 
moon rounds to its fulness, so in time Louis 
the son would be Louis the Fourteenth. 
" Now are we the sons of God," wrote John, 
" and it doth not yet appear what we shall 
be : but we know that, when He shall appear, 
we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him 
as He is." '' 

" Nor doth it yet appear 

How great we must be made ; 
But when we see our Saviour here. 
We shall be like our Head." 

^^ I John 3:2. 



165 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

THE SECRET WHEREBY WE MAY KNOW IF 
THIS PLEDGE INCLUDES US 

Eternal life having been provided and 
promised through Jesus Christ, there is a 
secret by which we may know if this pledge 
includes us. ^' Verily, verily," said Jesus, '' I 
say unto you. He that believeth on me hath 
everlasting life." ^* Two words in the pres- 
ent tense should not be overlooked in this con- 
nection, — " believeth," " hath." The one 
shows the simple yet mighty means whereby 
and whereon our eternal salvation depends — 
"" believeth/' The other is that of assurance 
— '' hath/' " These things have I written 
unto you, . . . that ye may know that ye 
have eternal life." ^^ Too many live in the 
future. "I hope so," they say; "I think 
so " — never, '' I know/' But we may 
know, and such knowledge brings satis- 
faction. '' I know/' said Jethro, ^' that the 
Lord is greater than all gods." ^^ " I know/' 
said Job, '' that my Redeemer liveth." " " I 
know/' said Solomon, " that whatsoever God 

^^John6:47. ^ i John 5 : 13- ^'^Ex.i8:ii. 

^^ Job 19 : 25. 

166 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

doeth, it shall be forever." '' " I know'' said 
the angel at the tomb, " that ye seek Jesus, 
which was crucified." ^^ " I know'' said 
Paul, '' whom I have believed." '' '' I know 
my sheep," said Jesus, " and am known of 
mine." '^ 

Such knowledge fringes every dark cloud 
with golden hues, dispels the gloom that over- 
spreads the mind, deepens the affections, ex- 
alts the faculties, makes the Christian's eye 
bright with hope, and illumines the pathway 
to immortality. 

There is a legend among the Hebrews that 
two sisters on the night of Egypt's desolation 
remained with the family within the home. 
One was prepared for the departure, and, 
filled with assurance and peace, calmly par- 
took of the roasted lamb. The other was rest- 
less and fearful lest the death angel would 
not pass them by. She reproached her sister 
for being unconcerned and confident, and 
asked how she could be so full of assurance 

^Eccl. 3:14. ^^ Matt. 28:5. *°2Tim. i: 12. 

^ John 10: 14. 

167 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

when death and judgment were being meted 
out to all around. The answer was, ^' Why, 
sister, the blood has been sprinkled; and we 
have God's word that when He sees the blood, 
He will pass over us." 

To take God our Father at His word is the 
greatest honor we can accord Him. To be- 
lieve in Jesus as our Saviour and Friend, is 
more pleasing than praying. 

" Since Christ and we are one, 

Why should we doubt or fear? 
If He in heaven hath fixed His throne, 
He'll fix His members there." 

TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT THIS LIFE 

It may be, reader, you have not experienced 
this blessed relationship with Christ. If not, 
listen to a closing admonition. On one occa- 
sion a rich young ruler came to Jesus, and 
said, '' Master, what shall I do to inherit eter- 
nal life?"*^ Doubtless you have asked the 
same great question. If not, then may the 
Holy Spirit assist you to ask it now, in all 
sincerity. 

^ Luke 10 : 25. 

168 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

Paul exhorted Timothy to "lay hold on eter- 
nal life." *^ But how? As the drowning sea- 
man lays hold of the life-line, so salvation 
is by faith, '' Believe on Him," said the 
apostle, " to life everlasting." ** And when 
you have '' laid hold " by faith, then go forth 
to live, go forth to minister in the name of 
Jesus Christ; for what your life will count in 
God's sight here, so will it count in eternity. 
" He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the 
Spirit reap life everlasting." *^ 

To sow to the Spirit will not always meet 
the approval of men. Some will laugh and 
sneer; temptations will assail, and pleasures 
allure; it may be that friends, and even loved 
ones, will endeavor to deter you. But listen ! 
Jesus speaks. Weigh every word, and then 
decide. "And every one that hath forsaken 
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or 
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my 
name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, 
and shall inherit everlasting life." *^ 

*3 I Tim. 6 : 12. ^ 1 Tim. i : 16. *' Gal. 6 : 8. 

*^ Matt. 19 : 29. 

169 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

A pious old man, walking to church with 
a New Testament in his hand, was thus ac- 
costed, '' Good morning, Mr. Price." 

'^Ah, good morning!" he responded. "I 
am reading my Father's will as I walk along." 

"Well, and what has He left you?" said 
the friend. 

" Why, He has bequeathed to me a hun- 
dredfold more in this life, and in the world 
to come life everlasting." 

Profitable investment for earth, but thrice 
profitable for eternity! '' In the world to 
come." What a phrase! What a prospect! 
How it makes the Christian's heart bound 
with joy. " The world to come," — heaven, — 
that place where our Father's throne is estab- 
lished, and where all his children will one day 
stand " without fault before the throne." *^ 

*' Xo joint-benumbing cold, nor scorching heat, 
Famine nor age have any being there." 

The city's walls and foundations are built 
of precious stones, and the streets are paved 
with gold. There is no need of the sun, for 

*' Rev. 14: 5- 
170 



JOHN THREE-SIXTEEN 

^'the Lamb is the light thereof."*' There 
God's people shall ^' hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more." *' But before the throne, 
on which Jesus will be exalted, they will bow 
the knee, and, casting their crowns at His 
feet, will say, '' Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." '' 

Reader, will you be there? The loving 
Father desires your presence there; Jesus and 
the Holy Spirit are doing all they can to have 
you there ; angels in heaven and Christians on 
earth are praying that you may be there ; but 
you, and you alone, must make the decision. 
Will you decide to be there? Do so, and 
all things will be yours. Do so, and faith will 
give place to sight, prayer to praise, and the 
pledge of John three-sixteen will unfold 
into blissful reality. Till then '^ keep your- 
selves in the love of God," ^^ remembering 
that — 

*« Rev. 21 : 23. *<> Rev. 7 : 16. =" Rev. 5 : 12. 

"Jude2i. 

171- 



THE LOVER'S LOVE 

God's boundless love and arching sky 
Are o'er us when we wake or sleep, 
Above us when we smile or weep, 

Above us when we live or die. 

God's tireless love! Beside the cot 
Of her sick child the mother sleeps. 
The Heavenly Father ever keeps 

Unweary watch — He slumbers not. 

God's patient love! Misunderstood 
By hearts that suffer in the night ; 
Doubted, yet waiting till heaven's light 

Shall show how all things work for good. 

God's mighty love! On Calvary's height, 
Suffering to save us from our sin, 
To bring the heavenly kingdom in, 

And fill our lives with joy and light. 

God's changeless love! The wandering one 
Forsakes, forgets, dishonors; yet 
Repenting, going home, is met 

With no reproach. ' Welcome, my son ! ' 

God's endless love! What will it be 
When earthly shadows flee away, 
For all eternity's bright day 

The unfolding of that love to see ! " 
172 



The Master*s Greatest 
Monosyllables 




Is a -cvell-vuritten hook 07i the 
Lord's use of monosyllables. 
It is a faith-making volume 
a72d a soul vuinney. 



WHAT MINISTERS SAY 
OF IT 

"An excellent little work." 
Rev. H. R. Baker, Valley, O., 
Baptist. 
' ' Desire to express my sincere 
satisfaction with the book." 
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mantown, O., St. John's Re- 
formed. 

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to friends." 
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' ' Find in the book the words of life, the living truth that never 
dies." 
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" It is a grand work. Not little in thought, but broad and deep. 
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* ' I am very sure God will bless it. I have had the idea in my 
own mind for a long time that some one could write with a 
blessing on the 'Master's Monosyllables.' May God bless 
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The Desire of A.ge^ 



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SECTIONAL DIVISIONS. 

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4.. THE DAYS OP PROMISE 
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XXX 

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The Great Controversy 

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There Will Be a Clean Universe 

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